


The Deville Inside

by ZVArmy



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Drama, F/F, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 03:00:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 56,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZVArmy/pseuds/ZVArmy
Summary: WWE are giving Sonya Deville a push by re-working her character and giving her an on-screen girlfriend by the name of Charlotte Flair. Her new character will be looking to unleash the devil (or the Deville) inside.





	1. Chapter 1

Exhausted, wracked with pain, Sonya Deville teetered on the edge of the ring apron. She knew she couldn't fall off. Only a few feet in front of her, Asuka also looked ready to collapse at any moment. They were the final two women in the battle royal that would decide the third participant in the triple threat Smackdown Women's Championship match at the upcoming TLC pay-per-view.

Sonya had been on the main roster for over a year, and this was the closest she had come to getting a title opportunity. She wasn't going to fail. She could not fail now. Asuka was all that stood in her way. All she had to do was knock the Japanese woman off the apron, and she would book her place at TLC.

Finding a second wind from deep down inside, Sonya rushed forward, intending to kick Asuka in the face. If she had succeeded, victory would have been a certainty. Unfortunately, Asuka also found fresh energy and was able to duck out of the way, delivering a kick to Sonya's knee.

In that split second, Sonya's stomach leapt in fear. Her left leg had collapsed from under her as a result of the kick. She was falling! She was going to land on the floor and lose! With the reactions of a cat, Sonya stuck out her right leg as she fell. She was just in time. Her right foot remained on the ring apron, while she was standing on her left on the floor. With only one foot touching, she was not eliminated!

"No elimination!" a nearby referee called, pointing at her foot on the apron.

After delivering the kick and seeing Sonya start falling off the side of the ring, Asuka had apparently thought she had won. She was yelling in celebration, climbing back through the ropes. Sonya stretched out a hand and was just able to grab the back of Asuka's shorts by the waistband.

Heaving for all she was worth, Sonya dragged Asuka back through the ropes. Caught off balance, Asuka toppled over backwards, landing on her ass on the apron before bouncing onto the floor, landing with a smack on the padding.

"That's it!" the referee shouted, gesturing for the timekeeper to ring the bell.

Sonya could hardly believe it. She had won! She was in the title match at TLC!

"Here is your winner, Sonya Deville!" the ring announcer said as her music started playing.

Now safe to remove her foot from the apron, Sonya did so before climbing into the ring to celebrate. Sitting at ringside, either side of the commentary table, were Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, the other two women in the triple threat match. Beating those two ladies was going to be no easy feat, but Sonya knew she could do it. No one on Smackdown knew what she was capable of. She intended to show them at TLC.

Walking over to the ropes on that side of the ring, Sonya saw Becky standing up, with the usual arrogant expression on her face. She really did think she was 'The Man', whatever that was supposed to mean. Sonya intended to show her otherwise.

"Don't forget, Deville, I'm The Man!" Becky shouted at her, raising her championship belt in the air.

"We'll see if you're The Man when I kick your head off your shoulders!" Sonya shouted back, pointing at Becky for effect.

Looking unimpressed with the whole exchange, Charlotte got up and calmly walked away, heading for the back.

Dismissing Becky, Sonya turned around, intending to have her hand raised by the referee. To her surprise, she saw that Asuka was back in the ring, standing there looking at her. Sonya put up her fists, ready to fight. However, Asuka seemed to have something else in mind. Rather than acting confrontationally, she was nodding her head in what appeared to be a sign of respect. She stepped forward and offered her hand to raise Sonya's in victory.

In that moment, Sonya heard the words her girlfriend had said to her only a matter of days before. "It's time to get ruthless, Sonya. It's time to start beating the hell out of people. It's time for you to run the division. Make a statement! Make a name for yourself! Unleash the devil inside you! Or should that be the Deville inside you?"

Sonya had loved the play on words with her name, and had taken the advice to heart. She was sick of being stuck in pointless matches low on the card every week, if she made the show at all. She was the baddest bitch on Smackdown, and it was time the roster and the fans realised it. It was time for the inner Deville to be unleashed.

Something inside Sonya snapped in that moment. She launched herself into the air and kicked Asuka as hard as she could in the head. The strike landed perfectly, turning Asuka's lights out immediately. The fans erupted into a mixture of cheers and boos, which surprised Sonya, not that she particularly cared about their opinions. She had expected boos. Cheers were what surprised her. Apparently she and her girlfriend were not the only ones who had wanted to see this change in attitude from her.

Looking down at the fallen Asuka, Sonya felt herself getting even angrier. Kicking the bitch in the head wasn't enough of a statement. Seeing red for a second time, she climbed out of the ring and retrieved a steel chair from under the ring apron. Those fans who had decided to support her in her attack cheered again, urging her on.

Carrying the chair, Sonya climbed back into the ring, feeling herself shaking with anger. It wasn't Asuka in particular she was angry with, she was just the one being used to send the message that there was a new Sonya Deville in the picture, and she would stop at nothing, literally nothing, in order to dominate the Smackdown women's division.

"What are you doing?" the referee who had declared her the winner demanded, now standing between Sonya and Asuka. "Put the chair down and get out of here!"

Sonya headbutted him right between the eyes, knocking him out, not caring in the least that she would be fined heavily for doing so.

With the referee now down and out, there was nothing to stop Sonya assaulting Asuka. She walked over to the fallen Japanese, raised the chair high into the air and slammed it down on her back with all the force she could muster.

Striking Asuka with the chair seemed to send Sonya into some kind of rage-inspired trance. It felt almost like she was starting to have an out of body experience as she hammered away with the chair over and over again, wanting to pound Asuka into dust. Sonya knew she was screaming like a woman possessed, yet she couldn't actually hear herself doing it. She had never experienced anything like it before.

When the trance-like state started to wear off, Sonya became aware that there were now a bunch of referees around her. She hadn't even known they had entered the ring. They were trying to plead with her to put the chair down. Looking down at it, Sonya didn't see anything recognisable as a chair. What she was holding now was a bent piece of black metal that had been literally destroyed by hitting Asuka so many times.

Sonya started to hear the referee's voices as she looked wild-eyes between them.

"Put it down!" one of them yelled.

"She's had enough! Get out of here!" another shouted.

Sonya knew that if anyone touched her right then, she was going to destroy whoever it was. "Get out of my way!" she screamed, throwing the remains of the chair to the mat.

Fearfully, the referees parted like the red sea, granting her clear passage to the side of the ring in front of the entrance ramp. Breathing heavily from the exertion of what she had just done, Sonya walked over and climbed out of the ring.

On her way up the entrance ramp, Deville became aware of a significant number of fans chanting, "Sonya!"

After a moment of pause, Smackdown's recently-appointed Head Writer, Elena D'Agostino, looked up from the tablet that she had been reading aloud from. Across the table from her were Vince McMahon and Road Dogg. Beside her sat Sonya Deville. All three of them sat with their mouths slightly open, which Elena hoped was a positive sign. "So, uh, that's what I had," she said in her thick Italian accent, hoping for a response of some kind from at least one of them.

"That is excellent work," McMahon said after a moment. "It's been a while since I had a writer put an idea across in that manner, but you did it fantastically. You had me hooked in. What did you think?" he asked Road Dogg.

"I could see it all happening clear as day. I think we have to go with it if we're going to push Sonya."

McMahon turned to Deville. "It would be something of a change in character for you to act out that… what was it you called it?" he asked D'Agostino, turning back to her.

"A trance-like state," she replied.

"To act out that trance-like state, brought about by rage," McMahon put to Deville. "Getting so angry that you totally lose your mind. Do you think you can pull that off?"

"Absolutely, sir," Sonya promised him. "And if it makes any difference, I truly love what Elena has come up with. I'd like to ask you to give it the green light."

McMahon didn't commit to a decision. In fact, he had a question for D'Agostino. "You mentioned Sonya's girlfriend in your little piece there. I take it this is also your idea for how we might start the romance angle I wanted?"

D'Agostino nodded. "It is. You said you were looking to have a lesbian romance on the show, and you wanted Sonya to be a part of it. You also wanted to push her, beginning with having her win the battle royal. This would achieve both of those aims. The only thing I didn't know when I was writing it was who you wanted the girlfriend to be. You never mentioned a name."

"I was thinking the same thing," Sonya said. "As I said before, I'm happy to do a romance angle. I would like to know who it will be with, though."

McMahon leaned back in his chair, a crafty smile on his face. "Considering what Elena has come up with, I have the perfect person in mind."


	2. Chapter 2

_WWE TLC – December 16th 2018_

Locked in Becky Lynch's Disarm-Her, Sonya Deville screamed in pain, trying to squirm her way towards the ropes. Her efforts looked like they were going to be in vain. She was right in the middle of the ring, with the hold expertly applied.

In the nick of time, Charlotte re-entered the ring. Needing to stop Sonya from tapping in order to continue the match, Charlotte rushed at Becky and kicked her in the side of the head. It was a simple but effective way of breaking the submission hold.

Holding the side of her head in pain, Becky started to get up. Unfortunately for her, she played right into Charlotte's hands. Flair jumped forward, delivering Natural Selection, slamming Becky's face into the mat.

Everyone in the arena expected Charlotte to go for a cover. With Sonya still down and Becky seemingly out cold, it would have been an ideal opportunity to do so. But instead, Charlotte hurried over to Sonya, grabbed her right arm and started dragging her across the ring.

Sonya revelled in the confused reactions she heard from the fans as she was draped over Becky. No one had a clue what was going on now. There seemed to be no imaginable reason why Charlotte would assist Sonya rather than trying to win the match herself.

Sonya lying on Becky constituted a pinning situation, so the referee got down to make a count, as confused as everyone else by what was happening.

"One!"

"Two!"

Becky got a shoulder up, to the delight of the fans, who had been supporting her throughout the contest.

For a moment, Charlotte looked on in disbelief, unable to comprehend how Natural Selection hadn't been enough to put Becky away.

Showing incredible resilience, Becky began to get up once more.

Setting her frustration aside, Charlotte lined Becky up for another attack.

As Becky regained her feet, looking dazed, Charlotte ran at her and delivered a Big Boot that connected with her face with a loud crack that was audible throughout the arena.

Sonya was just regaining her feet as Becky went down. Her head bounced off the canvas like a rubber ball, a sure sign that she was knocked clean out.

"Finish it!" Charlotte yelled at Sonya.

This moment was the culmination of several years of blood, sweat and tears for Sonya. She made sure to savour every moment of it. She was about to win her first Women's Championship. Since the night of the battle royal, where she had debuted her revamped character, Sonya had been using her Kimura lock as her finishing move. She applied it to Becky now, screaming with rage as she wrenched in the pressure.

The majority of the crowd watched on in near silence, shocked by Charlotte's actions and the fact that Becky was about to be essentially screwed out of her championship in a two on one situation. A small number of fans cheered, though. The new Sonya, despite being a heel, had some followers.

Selling the beating Charlotte had inflicted on her, Becky didn't fight against the hold she was in. After a few moments, she tapped weakly on the mat.

Sonya screamed again, this time in delight as the bell sounded and her music began to play. She was the Smackdown Women's Champion! Releasing the hold, she felt almost overcome with emotions as she got to her feet. The honour of being champion meant so much to her she was on the point of tearing up, but she couldn't. It wouldn't have made sense for her character to react that way. More appropriate was the way she shoved the referee aside, refusing to allow him to raise her hand.

"Here is your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"

Sonya roared like a wild animal, pounding her chest with her fist.

Across the ring, Charlotte had taken the championship belt from the timekeeper. She walked towards Sonya with it and held it out, almost as if it was a gift she was presenting. Understandably, the fans still had no clue what they were witnessing, or what Charlotte's motivation for her actions could possibly be. They were about to find out.

Sonya gratefully took the belt and raised it in the air in her right hand. Charlotte raised Sonya's left hand, joining in the celebration.

"That's right, I'm the champ!" Sonya yelled, looking into the hard camera.

Now it was time for the bombshell on which the segment was going to end. Lowering her arms, she turned to face Charlotte, who also turned to face Sonya at the same moment. They looked at each other lovingly, stepped into each other's arms and began kissing passionately.

Although Charlotte had been booed throughout the match and had finished it in a way that strongly suggested a heel turn, and although Sonya had been on a roll as a heel during the past few weeks, their show of passion for each other was met with a loud cheer of approval that had a distinctive male tone to it. Sonya wasn't exactly surprised. Men loved them a bit of girl on girl action, and it was a first for WWE as far as she knew.

The instruction from Vince McMahon had been for the ladies to continue kissing until the lights above the ring went out, signalling that their segment had gone off air. That was exactly what they did, raising their hands to each other's faces as an additional loving gesture.

As soon as the lights went off, Sonya knew they were clear to break off the kiss and head to the back. Charlotte's professionalism was beyond question, everyone in the locker room knew that. Even so, Sonya was impressed with the way she had fully committed to the kiss – her first with a woman, as Sonya had learned earlier in the day.

"Congrats, Son. You deserve this. You'll make a great champion," Charlotte said as they walked towards the ropes, heading for the back.

"Thanks, Char. That means a lot to me. And thanks for the kiss. Talk about taking a girl's breath away."

Charlotte laughed. "If I know Vince, we'll be doing a lot of on-screen kissing. Better get used to it."

Deciding not to say anything, Sonya thought that she would have no complaints at all if that was the case. Little did anyone know, she had a huge crush on Charlotte Flair.

* * *

_Earlier that night_

To Sonya's frustration, Vince McMahon still hadn't told her who she was going to be working her upcoming romance angle with. All he had said was that he had the perfect person in mind for the role. That had been weeks ago. At this point, Sonya wondered if the truth of it had been that he hadn't made a decision, but he hadn't wanted to say so.

Now, though, Sonya figured she was about to find out who her partner was going to be. She was backstage before TLC - the event only a couple of hours away from starting - and she had been summoned to see the Chairman.

When she knocked on the door and entered the office, Sonya's eyes widened at who she saw standing there talking with the boss. Charlotte Flair. The Queen. The most beautiful woman on Smackdown, in Sonya's opinion. Charlotte was also one of the other competitors in the triple threat match. Sonya's heart leapt in her chest momentarily. If Vince was about to say what she thought he was about to say, she was into this angle more than ever before. Of late, Charlotte had been dressing and getting made up to look eviler, a sign that heel Charlotte was close to returning. Personally, Sonya had found the new look hot as hell, not that she had remarked on it to anyone. The two women exchanged a smile as Deville walked into the office and stood next to Flair.

"Ah, perfect timing, Sonya," Vince said as a form of greeting. "I was just telling Charlotte how I want the finish to go down tonight, and she asked me why she would be helping you. Obviously you already know the answer to that question."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Sonya said, trying to play things a coolly as possible.

"Maybe someone can enlighten me then?" Charlotte said with some humour in her voice. "I'm basically going to beat Becky, then hand the title to Sonya on a plate. Why?" It was clear in her tone that she was intrigued by the idea more than resistant to it.

"Because she's your girlfriend," Vince said bluntly, looking satisfied with himself for the idea. "We have a bunch more backstory to it than that, but that's the basic reason."

This time it was Charlotte's eyes that widened in surprise. She looked from Vince to Sonya and back again before speaking. "We're going to do a lesbian romance angle?" she asked.

"Is that a problem?" Vince asked. "If it is, you should say so now."

"I didn't say it was a problem," Charlotte said carefully. "I'm just… surprised. I had no idea that we were going to do something like this, or that I would be chosen for it. It makes sense to choose Son because everyone knows she's gay, but why me?"

"You've been waiting to have your elbow surgery for a while now," Vince said. It was news to Sonya, who hadn't known Charlotte was working hurt. "We're going to get you booked in to get the surgery this week. It'll keep you out of the ring for around a month, so you should be okay to return in the Royal Rumble match. In the meantime, you'll be managing Sonya as a part of this new angle."

Charlotte nodded. "Alright. I'll be glad to get my elbow tidied up. Some nights, it's quite painful." She looked at Sonya and smiled awkwardly. "I've never kissed a girl before."

Sonya smiled broadly. "I've never kissed a guy, but I'd imagine it's much the same. It's when things get further than that the differences come in."

Both Vince and Sonya burst out laughing. "We won't be going that far, we are PG," the boss said. "I will need you to kiss, though. Is that going to be an issue?"

"No," Sonya replied. They both looked at Charlotte.

"No problem," she said comfortably.

Vince clapped his hands together in satisfaction. "Excellent. That's settled then. Now, Sonya, this is how the finish is going to happen."


	3. Chapter 3

Prior to Smackdown, Sonya and Charlotte had been called to Vince McMahon's office. When they arrived, they found Road Dogg and Elena D'Agostino also in the room, standing there talking to the chairman. Recently promoted to senior producer, Road Dogg was now the immediate superior of Elena, who had been promoted to head up the writing team for the blue brand.

After their segment at the TLC pay-per-view, Sonya had recounted the meeting she had attended where D'Agostino had outlined the transformation in the Sonya Deville character and how that would lead to her becoming the champion, along with the added dimension of a girlfriend coming into the picture. No one was in any doubt, though, that the lesbian romance angle was McMahon's brain child. Elena was writing what she had been instructed to write as far as that was concerned.

Greetings were exchanged all round, then McMahon got right down to business, as was his usual manner.

"Right then. First order of business, Charlotte, you'll be heading down to Birmingham tomorrow. We have your travel taken care of. You're on an early flight tomorrow morning, with your elbow surgery booked in for the afternoon."

"Great, thank you," Charlotte smiled.

"It's a minor procedure, so I'm told," Vince continued. "You'll spend the night in the hospital before hopefully being released the next day. You'll have your arm in a sling for a couple of weeks, then you'll be clear to resume light training in preparation for a return to action in the Royal Rumble."

Charlotte nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"You'll continue to appear on Smackdown," Road Dogg informed her. "Obviously your arm will be in a sling, so in your promo tonight you'll be blaming Becky for injuring you during the match at TLC."

"I'm going to let you stay home and rest up next week, though," Vince informed her. "What we're going to do is send Sonya and a film crew to your house on Monday, and you're going to film a video segment there for us to use on the show next Tuesday night."

Although she didn't show it, Sonya felt a mix of emotions at that news. Envy was one of those emotions. An entire week off sounded like heaven. She couldn't remember she had been fortunate enough to have a break that long, and she wondered if she would have been afforded the same luxury if it was her elbow that was injured. Additionally, stupidly in her opinion, she felt somewhat nervous about going to Charlotte's home. That was the crush doing its thing, she thought, embarrassed by the fact. Working this angle and remaining professional was not going to be an easy thing to pull off, she realised.

Vince had nodded to Elena, prompting her to say whatever she was there to say.

"You'll be relaxing together on a couch, looking all loved up. Fawning over each other, I think is the right term?"

"Yes," Vince said with a smile and a gleam in his eye. He really was into the girl on girl angle, Sonya thought with an inward sigh. Still, she reasoned, women had been given a lot worse stuff to do by WWE back in what in some respects were the bad old days.

The next ten minutes were spent with Sonya and Charlotte receiving instructions regarding the imminent show, and also being given some more information on what the promo to be filmed at Charlotte's house would consist of. To finish, McMahon informed them that future instruction would likely come from TJ Wilson, who had been assigned to their angle as their agent. With that, they were dismissed from the office.

"I get the impression Vince is liking this lesbian angle," Sonya said after the door was safely closed behind them and they were walking off along the hallway.

"Yes, I thought the same," Charlotte said. "Do you find that insulting?"

Sonya shrugged. "I don't find it particularly surprising. Honestly, I think it's a big positive for WWE to have a lesbian couple on a show for the first time, so even if it might not be the best way to portray it, I'm going to take what we've got. I want to thank you for being so good about it, Char. It can't have been easy as a straight girl to have been told to play someone who is gay?"

"In a way, I consider it an honour," Charlotte said with a smile. "I'm a big supporter of gay rights, as are many in the locker room. As you said, having a lesbian relationship depicted on the show is a good step forward."

"And you didn't mind kissing me?" Sonya asked with a smile full of humour. Inside, she was very interested in the answer Charlotte was about to give.

"No. I've had worst first kisses, trust me," Charlotte giggled.

"Wait until we're out there tonight then, I'll blow your mind," Sonya said, feeling her heart rate quickening as she tried to make it sound like a joke.

"Not if I blow yours first, Deville."

Jesus, Sonya thought, glancing at the truly beautiful Queen walking beside her. The comment had made her literally feel weak at the knees.

* * *

_Smackdown Live – December 18th 2018_

After the commentary team had finished welcoming the viewers to the show, Charlotte's music was the first to play. There were some boos from the fans, presumably due to the way the popular Becky Lynch had been shafted out of her women's title at TLC.

"We're kicking off with The Queen," Corey Graves said in delight as Flair walked onto the stage, wearing a black leather jacket, blue pants and brown knee high boots. Whoever had done her makeup had done a great job of making her look regal, sexy, with a touch of evil mixed in.

Tom Phillips said, "At TLC, Charlotte Flair failed to win the Smackdown Women's Championship, but we learned that she has won something possibly even more important: the heart of Sonya Deville."

"Charlotte didn't fail to win the title," Byron Saxton countered, "What she did was hand it on a silver platter to her… girlfriend? I have to assume that's the right word to use."

"After the kiss we saw Charlotte and Sonya share after the match, yes, I think you're right," Graves with a hint of sarcasm.

Charlotte entered the ring. As she walked across it to fetch a microphone, there was a satisfied smile on her face, despite the noticeable booing that was still going on from some of the fans. The reason for her attitude soon became apparent when her music faded. She intended to start with an introduction. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the woman who unleashed the Deville inside at TLC and made Becky Lynch tap out; the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"

A mixture of cheers and boos greeted Sonya's theme. The happiness from some of the audience that someone new and unquestionably talented had won the title was enough to at least secure her a mixed reaction.

With her newly-won championship around her waist, Sonya walked briskly onto the stage. She was wearing blue ring attire, in the same shade as the face of the title belt. At Charlotte's suggestion, she had her hair down and straightened. The old 'Put your hair up and square up' Sonya was in the past now. This was the Sonya with a devil inside of her.

Posing at the top of the entrance ramp, Sonya went through a quick shadow boxing routine, then roared like a wild beast as she posed with both arms outstretched. In the past few weeks, the fans had gotten used to seeing that as her entrance routine. With the gold around her waist, it looked even more impressive.

"There she is. Sonya Deville, the new Smackdown Women's Champion," Phillips reported. "Yes, Deville has been tearing it up lately, and yes, Becky Lynch tapped out to her Kimura, but frankly? Becky was facing two on one odds by that point. Charlotte Flair beat her down, with no intention to win the match for herself."

"It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen," Saxton said.

Sonya climbed into the ring, approached Charlotte, and the two women stepped into each other's arms. The kiss they shared this time was not the kind designed to be emphatic, to throw it in fan's faces. It was brief, yet it was tender and loving. To Sonya's horror, a tiny moan of pleasure escaped her at the end of the kiss. She hoped like hell that Charlotte hadn't heard it. If she had, she showed no outward sign of it as she handed over the microphone.

Turning to business, Sonya whipped her championship belt from around her waist and held it up high while facing the hard camera. "I'm the champion now!" she yelled into the microphone, receiving a noticeable cheer of approval in response.

Charlotte was shown smiling and applauding her girlfriend.

"I made Becky Lynch tap out, right in the middle of the ring," Sonya proclaimed. "I shocked the world by beating 'The Man' and becoming Smackdown Women's Champion, then Charlotte and I shocked the world again when we revealed that yes, we are in a relationship. I'll allow Charlotte to elaborate further, because she's got a lot she wants to get off her chest."

As the microphone was handed over to Charlotte, she received another chorus of boos. "Peasants," she commented to Sonya, 'accidentally' speaking close enough to the mic for the fans to hear her. Without waiting for a reaction from the crowd, she launched into what she had to say. "Let's go back to Summerslam, shall we? You remember Summerslam, right? Where I beat Becky Lynch fair and square for the Smackdown Women's Championship, and had the good grace to offer my hand to her in recognition of an excellent contest. And what did I get from my supposed best friend? I got punched in the face and beaten down, that's what I got."

The crowd cheered that part of the memory, then broke out into a "Becky!" chant.

"Yes, Becky," Charlotte snarled. "Becky is the one who betrayed my friendship, and to make matters worse, what did all of you people do? You turned your backs on me as well, and for some reason sided with Becky!" she exclaimed incredulously.

Sonya was shown shaking her head, appalled by the very thought of it.

"So, through absolutely no fault of my own, my best friend and my fans all stabbed me in the back on the same night. Needless to say, I was devastated. Thankfully, there was one person who stood by me in my hour of need. Sonya was there for me when I needed support the most, and from there, a beautiful relationship has blossomed between us."

Pausing for a moment, Charlotte looked lovingly at her girlfriend, who returned the look in kind.

"We did our best to keep our relationship a secret, and we were successful," Charlotte went on. "We wanted to wait until the moment was right to show the world what we feel for each other. On the spur of the moment, I decided the right moment was this past Sunday at TLC. You see, during the triple threat match, Becky Lynch injured my elbow. I realised I was hurt and that I might need surgery, which is indeed the case. Tomorrow, I'll be getting surgery, and I could be out of action for several months."

To the ire of Deville and Flair, the fans began to chant "Yes!" in response to Charlotte's news. They had no way of knowing that she had purposefully exaggerated the amount of time she would be on the injured list for.

"Knowing that I was hurt," Charlotte said loudly, getting annoyed with the chant, "I decided if I wasn't going to be champion, Sonya damn sure was."

Becky Lynch's music hit, bringing the fans to their feet in a tremendous ovation.

"Oh, here comes Becky Lynch!" Phillips shouted. "The Man is sprinting to the ring!"

Becky was already half way down the ramp by the time he finished saying it. She slid into the ring and started hammering away on both Deville and Flair with right hands.

Charlotte was knocked down by a powerful punch. It gave Becky a moment to focus her attention on Sonya, who received a stiff clothesline.

Deville quickly got up, but she was reeling from the attack. Becky grabbed her by the back of the head and hurled her over the top rope in front of the entrance ramp.

Moments later, Charlotte met the same fate, being sent flying clean over the top rope, landing right on Sonya, who had just stood up. Both women went down, ending up in a heap at the bottom of the ramp.

The fans were going wild for Becky, loving how quickly she had cleared the ring of her two adversaries. She rubbed her hands together emphatically, in a dismissive manner, implying that she had just thrown out the trash. With that, she made her way over to the corner of the ring and shouted at the timekeeper, "Give The Man a microphone, now!"

By the time the microphone was handed to Becky, Sonya and Charlotte were back on their feet and helping each other to retreat up the ramp.

During the mayhem, Sonya's title belt had been left lying on the mat in the ring. Becky picked it up as she spoke heatedly to Deville. "Sonya, you might think you're the champion. The truth of the matter is it took both of you teaming up to put The Man down at TLC. And I've got news for you, Deville, you're not really the champ until you've successfully defended it. I wanted to activate my rematch clause right here tonight and take back exactly what's mine, the Smackdown Women's Championship. But Paige still seems to have a bit of a soft spot for you, Sonya, because she said I will get my rematch at the Royal Rumble instead. So all I've got to say to you is, enjoy your Christmas with my title, because 2019 is going to be the year of The Man!"

The segment began to come to an end with Becky raising the belt in the air as her music playing, with the fans going wild for her again. The last shot was of the stage, where Sonya and Charlotte had arms around each other and were glaring down towards the ring.


	4. Chapter 4

For the past few minutes, Sonya had been driving through a quiet, recently constructed neighbourhood that seemed like a pleasant, family oriented kind of area. It was the sort of place that stereotypical professional couples moved to, with their 2.4 children, two cars and a dog. It was also home to Charlotte Flair.

"You have reached your destination," the satnav in Sonya's hire car informed her. She was already aware of the fact. A van was parked on the driveway of the home in question, telling Sonya that the film crew were already there.

Pulling up in front of Charlotte's house, Sonya killed the engine, got out, and retrieved the Smackdown Women's Championship from the back seat. She wasn't sure if it would feature in the filming, but she was going to take it inside just in case.

Sonya glanced up and down the street before starting up the driveway. It was mid-morning, yet all she could hear was birds singing and her car's engine clicking as it began to cool down. What a peaceful place to live, she thought. It sure beat her run down urban apartment in Orlando, which definitely needed an upgrade now that she was earning more money. A couple of years ahead of her on the career path, Charlotte had already made that move.

Impressed, possibly a little envious, Sonya started up the driveway, heading for the front door. She noticed that the garden was impeccably kept. Charlotte had to be paying someone to do it for her, considering how much time she spent away from home.

Reaching the front door, Sonya pressed the doorbell, then pushed her aviator style sunglasses up onto her forehead. She was dressed in a black leather jacket, blue and black plaid shirt and grey pants, with black boots completing the look. With the filming in mind, she had wanted to look casual, like she was at home with her girlfriend, but without being too casual. This was still a TV appearance, after all.

After only a brief wait, the door opened. Charlotte stood there with a truly gorgeous, warm smile on her face. She had her left arm in a sling, and was wearing her newest WWE shirt with the word 'Wooooo' on the front of it. "Sonya, hi!" she said warmly, stepping aside to admit her guest. "Come in, please. How was your flight?"

"Good, thank you," Sonya smiled as she entered the house. She saw that it was decorated in a modern style and everything looked pretty much brand new. She could hear a couple of men talking from a room further back in the house, obviously the film crew. "This seems like a lovely neighbourhood to live in, Char. So quiet, and so pretty. And your house looks amazing."

"Thank you," Charlotte said happily, gesturing for Sonya to proceed past a staircase along a wide hallway leading several rooms, including a kitchen straight ahead. "I only moved in back in October. I wanted somewhere quiet, yet relatively close to home. This was perfect. There's coffee on in the kitchen," she added, encouraging Sonya to head in there.

"I'm never going to complain about coffee."

"Knowing you were coming, I went out this morning and brought something in."

Charlotte finished her sentence just as Sonya entered the kitchen. On the island, she saw a large box of donuts, her absolute favourite food. She found the thought quite touching. "Char, I love donuts! Thank you!" she exclaimed.

"I know you do. I follow you on Instagram. Half of your posts are about donuts," Charlotte giggled.

"Half? I resent that comment," Sonya said with a big smile on her face.

"Sorry, three quarters," Charlotte said, and they both laughed. "You have no idea how hard it was to keep the film crew away from them. I told them you got the first choice, and that was the end of it."

Sonya laughed again as she eyed up the selection of available donuts. She selected a strawberry flavoured one. "Has to be this one," she announced. "For a start, anyway."

Charlotte giggled again as both of the film crew guys entered the kitchen. Sonya recognised them both, having worked with them many times. Sam and Rahul were their names.

Greetings were exchanged, then Sam made a beeline for the donuts. "You took your time getting here. Charlotte put us in donut jail."

"Probably a good thing, or there would have been none left for you," Rahul said, choosing a chocolate covered one.

A few minutes later, everyone's need for donuts had been satisfied, Charlotte had served coffee, and they had walked through to the living room, where the guys were getting their equipment ready for filming. Sonya had enquired about Charlotte's surgery, learning that it had gone perfectly and the elbow wasn't too painful.

"Hey, I bet you haven't seen yet," Charlotte said, pulling her phone out of a pocket as she got comfortable on a couch next to Sonya.

"Seen what?" Sonya asked.

"I was on Twitter right before you arrived. WWE Shop just posted a new shirt design for you."

"Oh!" Sonya exclaimed. "No, I haven't seen. Last time I was on Twitter was while I was waiting for my flight."

Quickly, Sonya took out her phone and loaded up her Twitter app. As she navigated to the WWE Shop account, her hopes were not particularly high. The designs they produced were occasionally brilliant, but often sucked. It was something of a lottery as to whether you got something good or not.

The tweet with Sonya's new shirt design was the most recent on the account. "Oh my god," she breathed when she saw the shirt. She had gotten lucky. The shirt was black, with Sonya's face on the front, wearing an angry expression. There were devil horns on top of her head, and the shirt featured the words 'Unleash the Deville inside' in red capital lettering.

"I thought it looked pretty sick," Charlotte commented.

"It really is!" Sonya exclaimed in delight. She quoted the tweet, typing a quick message to encourage her fans to get their shirts now.

"I saw something else while I was on there," Charlotte said. "We have a ship name, Son."

Sonya turned to her, her eyes lighting up. "We do? Our names aren't exactly good ones to combine. What are we called?"

"Flairville," Charlotte said with a chuckle.

"I love it!" Sonya cried. "It's better than anything I would have come up with. What do you say we start using that on Twitter and Instagram when we post stuff?"

"Hashtag Flairville. Yes, that needs to be a thing."

"Okay, I think we're all set," Rahul announced, focusing them on the job at hand. "So, to refresh your memories, what we're filming is a video that will play on the screen in the arena and interrupt Becky while she is in the ring demanding a match with you, Sonya. She'll be saying that if she has to wait until the Royal Rumble for a title match, she wants Sonya Deville in a non-title match that night on Smackdown."

"Got it," Sonya assured him, recalling the pointers they had already been given for the segment.

Beside her, Charlotte laughed. "Before they turn the camera on, you've got donut around your mouth."

As Sonya turned to Charlotte, she was surprised by her on-screen partner reaching out a finger and running it over her bottom lip. Her fingertip came away with strawberry jam on it.

Sonya was surprised even further when Charlotte put the finger in her own mouth and sucked the jam off it. Sonya's sexual drive lurched into unexpected action. She couldn't see anyway that hadn't been a suggestive gesture on Charlotte's part, and it had her heart pounding. Was Charlotte actually attracted to her? Surely not!

"What?" Charlotte asked innocently, reading her expression. "I'll practically have your tongue in my mouth in a minute anyway."

Sonya thought she might have a heart attack right there and then. The Queen was either teasing or flirting, and it sure felt a hell of a lot like flirting.

"Ready when you are," Sam prompted.

"Right, sorry," Sonya said, feeling flustered. For a moment, she had almost forgotten the film crew were there. As hard as it was, it was time to set her crush on Charlotte aside and get work done.

With the way Charlotte's living room was arranged, the camera pointing at the two women on the couch would only show a wall in the background, with a painting of a rural scene at sunset on it. There wasn't a way to get the Smackdown Women's title into the shot without it looking ridiculous, so it sat nearby on the floor. Charlotte's arm in its sling would be on show.

In order to comply with what Vince McMahon wanted, Sonya and Charlotte cuddled up to each other before the camera was turned on. Fawn over each other, that was the rather cringe-worthy way it had been put to them. They had also been told to end with a kiss.

Sam counted them down, and began filming.

"Becky!" Sonya said loudly, wanting the interruption to be effective. "You're out there ranting, throwing your weight around and making demands. Well guess what? You're not going to be facing me tonight, because I'm here in North Carolina, with Charlotte, who as you can see has had surgery on the elbow you injured at TLC. She's going to be out a while, but believe me, at the Royal Rumble, you're going to pay for what you did. You want to injure my Queen? Wait until I get you in my Kimura. I'll break your friggin' arm!" Sonya screamed, displaying the outburst of anger her character was now known for.

"You see that, Becky?" Charlotte asked, nuzzling against Sonya. "That's what's known as the Deville within. And when it's unleashed at the Royal Rumble? Sonya's going to kick your ass. She's going to make you tap. She's going to retain the Smackdown Women's Championship. And in the process, she's going to prove who The Man really is."

Sonya had been looking at Charlotte while she spoke. She now looked back to the camera to address Becky. "So, Becky, you go find someone else to take your frustrations out on tonight. Maybe see if Nia Jax is around? Because we know how well that went for you last time. Meanwhile, we've got much better things to do."

Sonya turned to Charlotte, whose right hand came up to her cheek as they began to kiss. As soon as their lips made contact, Sonya lost all ability to think about anything else but the kiss. Charlotte didn't hold back at all, really smooching her right from the start. Maybe it was because of her crush, but Sonya felt like it was one of the best kisses of her life. Charlotte even sighed passionately to add to the experience, making Sonya tingle with sexual excitement.

"Okay, great job," Rahul said, signalling that he had stopped filming.

The girls parted, but Sonya felt like Charlotte had lingered for a half second longer than needed. Another subtle message? Or a figment of her imagination?

With the filming complete, it wasn't all that long before Sam and Rahul had packed their equipment into the van and headed off.

"What do you have planned for the rest of the day?" Charlotte asked Sonya. They were in the kitchen, with Flair getting another round of coffees going.

"Not a lot. I couldn't get a flight until this evening, so I'm not really sure what to do."

"Perfect. You can stay for dinner," Charlotte said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Sonya asked, thinking that she would like that. Somehow, she needed to bring up her impression that Charlotte had been flirting with her.

"I insist. I have duck breasts that we can have."

"Sounds delicious, thank you," Sonya smiled. Alright, she told herself, over dinner, she would somehow find out what, if anything, Charlotte felt for her.


	5. Chapter 5

Over a light dinner of seared duck breast with balsamic green beans, Sonya had enjoyed the conversation with Charlotte despite having a problem on her mind. The problem was how to bring up the way Charlotte had acted prior to them filming the video segment for Smackdown. At best, she had been doing some pretty heavy flirting. At worst, she had been playing games. One way or another, Sonya needed to know what the deal was because she certainly wasn't the kind of person who liked having games played with her emotions.

After declining an offer of dessert, Sonya followed Charlotte out of the dining room and stood in the kitchen with her while she set about loading up the dishwasher. This was the moment to bring up the difficult subject, she figured, taking a deep breath. "Char, there's something I need to ask you."

"Sounds ominous," Charlotte said, arranging items in the dishwasher.

"No, it's not. It's just that earlier you were kind of sending signals out. Pretty damn strong ones at that. You licked jam off your finger that had been on my bottom lip. That's very suggestive, Char. I feel like I need to know what you're thinking, because as far as I know, you're not gay or bi. I don't think it would be fair of you to play with me, knowing that I'm gay and we have to…"

"I'm not playing with you," Charlotte insisted, stepping away from the half-loaded machine. "I wouldn't do that. But I should apologise for acting like that earlier. I was behaving like a teenager around their first crush. Honestly, I don't know what came over me."

As Charlotte had been speaking, Sonya's heart had started beating harder and she felt herself warming up. "Are you saying you have a crush on me?" she asked, needing absolute clarity.

Charlotte's cheeks began to redden. "I've never felt anything for a woman before, but yes, I think I do. Since we kissed in the ring last week, I've not been able to stop thinking about it. I kept reliving that kiss and the way you moaned slightly as we kissed. It does something to me when I think about it, Son. And again, earlier today when we kissed, it turned me on. So no, I'm not playing with you, but I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I think I have a crush on a girl for the first time in my life."

In that moment, Sonya felt for Charlotte, and inwardly reprimanded herself for thinking that there might have been game playing going on. She could well remember the first time she had realised she was attracted to a girl, back when she had been in school. She could only imagine how much harder it would be to deal with it for someone of Charlotte's age, who to date had always been into men.

Sonya stepped forward and took Charlotte's hand. "It's not easy, Char, but please don't blush. You don't have to feel embarrassed in front of me. Frankly, I'm deeply flattered and very excited that you have a crush on me, considering how long I've had one on you."

Charlotte's eyes widened in surprise. "You had a crush on me before this angle started?"

Ahead of time, Sonya hadn't planned on revealing that little nugget of information, but it was out there now. She hoped that it would at least help Charlotte feel a bit more comfortable about her own feelings, knowing that they were returned in kind. "Yes, I did," she admitted. "I've always found you incredibly beautiful. I knew I was in trouble when I walked into McMahon's office that day and saw you standing there. Working a romance storyline was never going to be easy for me. I never imagined you would feel anything for me in return, though."

"Well, I do, and honestly? It kind of scares me to admit it," Charlotte said.

Sonya squeezed her hand. "Trust me, I understand. It's a shock when you first have feelings for someone of the same sex. But the good news is that if anything happens between us, it won't go any further than the two of us. It can be our secret for as long as we want it to. Obviously I'm not presuming something will happen, I'm just saying…"

"I would have to take it slow," Charlotte cut in, breaking eye contact as she spoke. "I feel so nervous right now, just having the thought in my head that I might have sex with a woman."

Taking Charlotte's other hand also, Sonya squeezed them both. "Again, I understand. The absolute last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable. This is all very sudden, so I don't think it would be a good thing for either of us if we jumped straight into bed with each other."

Charlotte was still looking down, rather than into Sonya's eyes. Sonya gently lifted her chin, forcing her to make eye contact. "I don't want to do anything you don't want, Char. But I'd like to kiss you again."

"I'd like that too," Charlotte said, voice thick with desire even in the awkwardness of the moment.

Slowly, Sonya pulled Charlotte close to her and kissed her lightly on the lips. As soon as they made contact, a fire was lit inside both of them. Moment by moment, more and more feeling was injected into the kissing. For the first time, since this was their first 'real' kiss, Sonya risked slipping her tongue into Charlotte's mouth. She moaned in pleasure when the gesture was returned.

For a couple of minutes, they stood there in the kitchen, experiencing genuine mutual passion for each other for the first time. Sonya craved to do more with her hands than cradle Charlotte's face. She wanted to caress her breasts, maybe even slip a hand down the front of her pants. But no, she had just promised not to rush things, and she couldn't let her cravings force her into breaking that promise. Charlotte had to be the one to dictate the pace they moved at.

After another moment, Charlotte pulled back. Her lips were wet, desire burned in her eyes and her cheeks were red from a persistent sense of embarrassment over kissing a woman. "I, uh… Why don't I get the dishwasher going, then we can go sit in the living room and maybe…"

"Make out some more?" Sonya finished when Charlotte faltered.

"Yes. Make out some more," Charlotte said, biting her bottom lip shyly.

And that was what they did. After eating dinner, Sonya had been left with another hour before she needed to head back to the airport to get checked in for her flight. They spent that whole hour on the couch making out. When the time came to leave, Sonya was incredibly tempted to suggest leaving her flight and re-booking herself on one the next day. However, she had a distinct feeling that passions were running so high that they might end up having sex if she did that, and she felt like that would be a mistake, as tempting as it was. No, it was better to tear herself away, giving them both some time to process what had happened and what had been said.

For her part, Charlotte could also see why it was a good idea for Sonya to go, much as she wanted her to stay. She was in a state of emotional overload, and some time to get things straight in her head wouldn't be a bad thing.

"I had really better go," Sonya said, checking her watch as they stood in the front doorway, needing to say goodbye but not wanting to.

"Okay," Charlotte said. She smiled shyly, a sight that Sonya found truly beautiful. "I can't say this is how I expected things to go today, Son."

"Me either," Sonya assured her. "But I'm glad it did go like this. You're an amazing kisser, Queen."

"Don't call me Queen, you'll finish me off," Charlotte said, blushing for the umpteenth time.

"Okay, I won't call you Queen, yet. But I will call you when my flight lands."

Charlotte nodded. "Make sure you do."

With one more kiss on the lips, Sonya turned and walked towards her car. Just before she opened the driver's door, Charlotte called out to her. "I'll see you Tuesday."

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to it," Sonya replied with a smile. She got into her car and was soon pulling away, giving Charlotte a parting wave, receiving one in return.

As she drove away up the street, Sonya was left with something of an unpleasant feeling in her mind. The last exchange had been awkward and left her thinking she should have had something nicer and more meaningful to say.

"Damn," she muttered under her breath in annoyance.

Then her phone beeped. Keeping her attention on the road as much as possible, Sonya picked up the device from the central console and unlocked it to read the message.

Charlotte Flair: Miss you already.

Suddenly, Sonya's heart felt full. It was such a simple message, yet it meant so much to her. Yes, the goodbye had been awkward. There would almost certainly be more awkwardness in the future. But there was something between them; something real; something concrete. It wasn't love, not yet. Maybe one day, though, it would be, Sonya thought hopefully.


	6. Chapter 6

The past several weeks had been particularly frustrating for Sonya. Since the visit to Charlotte's house, where they had confessed to having feelings for each other and spent a significant amount of time making out, they had barely seen each other. Thanks to her elbow injury, Charlotte had not been working the full time schedule that everyone else had. She had only been appearing on Smackdown episodes, standing ringside during Sonya's first few non-title matches as champion, all of which had resulted in Deville victories.

The limited time spent together meant that progress with their relationship, if that was what it was at this point, had been limited. In fact, they hadn't progressed beyond kissing each other as yet. Much as Sonya had wanted things to take a step forward, she was mindful that she had always been gay, whereas this was Charlotte's first same sex relationship. It was only right, therefore, that Charlotte was the one who dictated the pace. Sonya certainly didn't want to rush things and send Charlotte running.

Therefore, for many reasons, the Royal Rumble was the night Sonya had been looking forward to. It was the night she would defend her newly-won Smackdown Women's Championship for the first time, it was the night Charlotte returned to the full time schedule, and it was the night Charlotte would compete for the first time since her surgery, making a surprise return in the Royal Rumble match itself.

In the locker room, they had of course done nothing around any of the other girls to give an inkling that there was something going on other than the romance angle they were working. The truth of it was that the angle would be a big help as far as concealing the real situation was concerned. Moving forward, anything people saw between them that looked romantic would naturally be assumed to be a part of the angle. They had already been encouraged by Vince McMahon to post pictures together on their social media.

Since winning the first championship of her career, Sonya had committed herself to working harder than ever in the gym each morning. As champion, it fell to her to set an example to the rest of the locker room. That was still a concept she was getting used to, but it felt good. As she finished changing into her ring attire – a brand new set in the same style as her others, but coloured black with blue trim – she learned that she wasn't the only one who had realised she was in the shape of her life.

"Girl, you look incredible," Naomi said with admiration, standing in front of a nearby locker.

"Thank you," Sonya said. "I've been hitting the gym extra hard recently."

The conversation didn't get a chance to go any further because Stephanie McMahon walked into the room. It was something of a rare occurrence, so it immediately attracted everyone's attention and quickly silenced the various conversations.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Stephanie said, receiving a few responses from around the room. "I wanted to be the first to come and let you know about an announcement that's going to be made on Raw tomorrow night, concerning the future of the women's divisions of both Raw and Smackdown."

These days, Sonya and Charlotte used adjacent lockers. They subtly made eye contact, both wondering what the announcement was going to be.

"For some time," Stephanie went on, "the women's wrestling we've been putting on has been one of the most popular parts of our product. With only one title on each brand, opportunities have been limited for some of you. Additionally, some weeks we have maybe one women's match on each show, possibly with a promo segment thrown in. It's not making the most of the talent we have available to us. Therefore, we've taken the decision to add new women's championships to both Raw and Smackdown, and to featuring more women's segments."

"Yes!" Sonya exclaimed to Charlotte as the room exploded into conversation. There had been rumours of a Women's Tag Team Championship being introduced for some time, but no one inside WWE had confirmed that they were moving forward with the idea.

Charlotte's eyes were wide in surprise. "Wow, Son. This is awesome!"

"Please," Stephanie said, raising a hand to appeal for silence. It took a moment for everyone to quiet down and give her the chance to speak again. "Contrary to the rumours I'm sure you've all seen, we will not be bringing in a Tag Team Championship. What we're introducing is a second singles title for each show. Raw is going to have the Women's North American Championship, and Smackdown will have the Women's European Championship."

"When are we getting them?" Carmella called out.

"We're not one hundred per-cent sure on that yet," Stephanie said. "They'll either be introduced at Wrestlemania or shortly afterwards. Personally, I would like it to be at Wrestlemania, but that would mean at least four women's matches on the card, and I'm not sure we can fit that in."

"There will be more than four men's matches on the card," Sasha Banks pointed out.

"Yes, there will," Stephanie said. "But as I say, a decision hasn't been taken on the exact timing. We're currently designing the belts and starting work on creative plans for them. Again, I wanted to be the one who came to tell you about what's going on ahead of the announcement tomorrow night. Any more questions before I leave you to it?"

"Is there any chance of me winning one of these new titles?" Dana Brooke asked, making a joke at her own expense. The room filled with laughter, with Stephanie joining in.

"I suppose anything's possible," McMahon said, drawing more laughter.

No one had anything serious to ask, so Stephanie excused herself and left the locker room. As soon as the door closed behind her, the room filled with chatter once more as everyone started talking about the news.

"What great news," Charlotte said to Sonya. "I think all of us deserve this for the hard work we've put in."

Sonya nodded. "Absolutely. Do you know what I'm picturing right now?"

"What?"

A smile appeared on Sonya's face. "Me and you, both walking out to the ring with gold around our waists. What a powerful image that would be."

"It really would," Charlotte said with a faraway look in her eyes as she pictured it. "Who knows, the week after Wrestlemania that might be exactly what happens."

* * *

_ WWE Royal Rumble – Sunday 27th January 2019 _

The honour of opening the pay-per-view had been given to Sonya and Becky Lynch. Currently, Becky was one of the most popular stars in the company, so when her music was the first of the night to hit, it drew an exceptionally loud cheer from the fans, who were already on their feet following the show's introduction.

"We're kicking things off with the Smackdown Women's Championship," Tom Phillips said on commentary as Becky walked out into the arena, with the fans singing along with her theme music. "What an ovation for Becky Lynch! The Man is here to try and reclaim the title that, in her mind, she was screwed out of by Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville at TLC."

"I'm not sure I follow the logic of that argument," Corey Graves said. "It was a triple threat match. There's no rule to say two people can't attack one person. Actually, it happens all the time. Besides, Sonya put Becky in the Kimura and Lynch tapped out. Deville is the rightful champion, and I think she will answer her critics tonight and prove that."

"That's why we're having the match," Byron Saxton said. "We'll be finding out just how good Sonya is when she unleashes the Deville inside. But is she going to face The Man one on one, as she promised last week?"

Becky entered the ring and posed on the middle rope, received another cheer of approval from the fans. A 'Becky' chant broke out, coming through loud and clear over her music.

The music faded out a moment later, being almost immediately replaced with Sonya's theme. Since her change in character, she had done away with the robes that she had previously worn to the ring. Now, she walked out onto the stage with her title around her waist and a look of barely contained anger on her face.

Standing in front of the stage, Sonya threw some shadow punches before letting out a rage-filled scream. If intent was anything to judge by, Becky was in big trouble.

"Well, so far, Sonya is as good as her word," Phillips said. "She's coming out without Charlotte Flair, exactly as promised. Deville said she wanted to prove a point, and this is the way she can do it. If she beats Becky Lynch one on one, there can be no question about her legitimacy as champion."

"In its own way, that puts a lot of pressure on Deville's shoulders," Saxton opined.

Sonya entered the ring and went through another shadow punching routine before taking off her championship belt and holding it up. As she did so, she let out another aggressive roar, eyes literally burning with the fire she was ready to unleash on Becky.

In short order, the ring announcements were made and the match got underway.

To the dismay of many in the crowd, Sonya dominated much of the contest, methodically picking Becky apart, focusing particularly on her left arm, softening it up for what she hoped would be the eventual application of the Kimura.

Nearly fifteen minutes into the match, Becky was at last able to mount a sustained period of offense of her own, hitting several signature moves, culminating in the Bexploder suplex. For the first time, the fans had half an inkling that their favourite might get the win they craved on her behalf. They all joined in with the referee's count when a cover was made.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Deville kicks out!" Graves called over disappointed groans from the crowd.

Sonya got back to her feet, but she was rocking from Becky's barrage. Wanting to press home her advantage, Becky hit a Lass Ride, leaving Sonya flat on her back near to one of the corners of the ring.

With all of the momentum now behind her, Becky stepped through the ropes and carefully climbed up to the top rope, sensing that all she needed was to hit one high risk move and she would reclaim what she saw as her title.

As Lynch reached the top rope, Deville was starting to get back up. Becky was left to improvise, choosing to leap into the air when Sonya was back on her feet.

Becky connected with a flying double axe handle, knocking Sonya down. But as contact was made, Becky screamed out in pain and went down also, clutching her left arm – the one that Sonya had been working on throughout the match. The impact of delivering the move had clearly injured it.

Crying out again in pain, Becky went down to her knees, holding her injured arm. The referee realised something was wrong and hurried over to check on her.

Unfortunately for Becky, Sonya also realised she was hurt. Looking across the ring, she scented blood in the water. She rushed across the ring, grabbed hold of Becky injured arm and locked in the Kimura, overpowering Becky's attempt to resist.

The fans groaned as soon as the move was locked in, the moment being signified by one of the rage-filled screams from Sonya as she wrenched in the pressure.

"There it is! The Kimura! It's locked in!" Graves cried as Sonya continued to wrench as hard as she could, screaming with the effort and the anger she was putting into it.

Becky was also screaming as she flailed around in a desperate attempt to get free. The pain was more than evident in her voice.

Even Becky Lynch was only able to stand the vicious Kimura for a matter of moments before tapping frantically on the mat with her free hand. A final scream came from Sonya as she realised that she was victorious.

"It's over! Becky Lynch taps out to Sonya Deville!" Phillips cried.

"Sonya unleashed the Deville within, and it was too much for The Man!" Saxton added.

Inside, Sonya was filled with delight as she released the hold on Becky and got up, raising her arms in victory and yelling once again. She had just raised the bar again for the biggest win of her career. This time it had been a Women's Championship match, and she had won it cleanly. It meant an incredible amount to her.

As she snatched the belt from the referee and held it aloft in celebration, a stark realisation came to mind for Sonya. She was the champion coming out of the Royal Rumble. That made it highly likely that she would be the one to take the title into Wrestlemania. The thought raised goosebumps on her arms. Wrestlemania was going to happen in her home state of New Jersey, and it was likely that she would be in one of the biggest matches on the card.

BREAK

Nearly three hours after her match had ended, Sonya was showered and changed out of her ring attire, sitting in the locker room watching the women's Royal Rumble come to an end on a monitor.

The final two women in the match were Charlotte and Ember Moon. Charlotte's shocking return had come at number twenty eight, being greeted by fairly heated booing. For whatever reason, she currently had more heat that Sonya with the fans, even though they were together in their angle and Sonya was the champion.

Personally, Sonya was just glad to see the Queen, her Queen, back in action and showing no signs of the elbow injury.

The crowd had been behind Ember since her entrance at number twenty. A majority held the opinion that she had been wasted since being called up from NXT. They were about to be made very happy indeed.

After hitting an Eclipse on Charlotte, Ember discarded her over the top rope, to the delight of the crowd.

"The winner of the 2019 women's Royal Rumble, Ember Moon!" Jojo announced.

Nothing had as yet been said to Sonya about future plans, but she began to image a Moon – Deville match at Wrestlemania for the Smackdown Women's Championship. She liked the idea. She liked it a lot.


	7. Chapter 7

During her time off to rehab her elbow, Charlotte had come pretty close to a decision. It hadn't been an easy one to try and reach. Committing herself to the fact that she wanted a relationship with a woman for the first time in her thirty two years was not something she could have done without putting a lot of serious thought into it. It definitely wouldn't have been fair to Sonya to get into something that she wasn't totally sure about.

It had been while she had watched the end of Sonya's match against Becky Lynch that Charlotte had reached the point where she knew beyond any shadow of doubt what her heart wanted. Watching her girl celebrate the biggest moment of her career, Charlotte's heart had been so overwhelmingly full. It had been full of pride, and yes, of love. She knew what love felt like, and that had been it. She was in love with Sonya Deville. There was no arguing with it. It was a fact.

Now, having just got back to their hotel room after the pay-per-view, Charlotte had to take the step, or maybe it was a leap, forward and communicate that fact to Sonya. She felt shy and nervous about doing so, but was nonetheless determined that this was the right time.

"What a night," Sonya sighed tiredly, theatrically flopping down onto her back on the bed.

"But a good night," Charlotte said, sitting down beside her. "It felt wonderful to get back in the ring, even if it was only for a few minutes. I've hardly ever missed any time through injury, and I don't enjoy it at all."

"It was great to see you back out there," Sonya replied, looking up at her. "Much as I would have obviously liked you to win, I have to say I'm happy for Ember. She's deserved a push for the longest time."

"Totally agree," Charlotte said, taking a deep breath. She was about to change to the subject to the one that had been on her mind. Her nerves had her heart beating hard and fast. "Honestly, the best moment of the night for me was watching you get your win. I felt so proud of you."

"Aww," Sonya cried, putting a hand to her chest in a gesture that conveyed how much the kind words meant to her.

Looking down at her, Charlotte put all the feeling she could muster into her voice. "I recognised what the feeling was, Son. It was more than simple pride. It was deeper than that. I've been married before, so I know it was the kind of thing you only feel for someone you love. I don't know if I should be using that word this soon, so I'm sorry, but I couldn't think of another way to put it."

"Oh, Charlotte," Sonya breathed in surprise, quickly sitting up. Charlotte's words had come as a shock to her, but in the best possible way. "You never have to apologise for saying that word to me, okay? And who says it's too soon? There's no law or rule about when you can tell someone you love them. When you know, you know. And I know I love you, too."

Leaning closer to Sonya, Charlotte kissed her softly on the lips. "Part of me is still nervous about all this, Son. But my heart knows what it wants. It hurts when you're not around, and it pounds when you kiss me or hold my hand. I want to be with you. I do need you to be mindful of the fact that I've never dated a girl before, though. I mean, at some point, I'm going to have to tell my mom and dad, and my brother. I honestly don't know how they would react. And that's before anything goes public."

"Coming out is not easy, to say the least," Sonya said gently. "It's one of the hardest things I've done in my life. It wouldn't be fair of me to pretend otherwise. I was able to get myself into the mindset that I was proud of who I was, and I loved my girlfriend. If anyone couldn't see that and be happy for me, that was on them."

"I don't want to think about that right now," Charlotte said, fearful that it could kill the moment. "All I want on my mind is that I love you, and here you are with me. I hated being away from you so much over the past few weeks."

"I'm here, and I'm not going away," Sonya promised, kissing her on the lips.

"I know that," Charlotte said quietly. Nerves gripped her again as she prepared to take another step forward. "So far, we've only kissed each other. I'm grateful for you moving at a pace that was comfortable for me. But tonight, I'd like us to go further."

Sonya put an arm around Charlotte and used it to pull her closer before kissing her passionately. The kiss went on for a minute, punctuated by breathless moans of pleasure. Eventually, Sonya replied. "I've told you I love you. Now I'll show you, Queen."

They kissed again, then Charlotte pulled her head back a little to force Sonya to stop. "Son, I need you to do something else for me."

"Anything," Sonya said, desperate to resume the kissing, and to go further.

"Promise to always call me Queen. Ever since you first said it to me, it does something to me."

"You'll always be my Queen," Sonya assured her. "If you want, I can be your filthy peasant."

"I like the sound of that," Charlotte gasped as they kissed again. "But tonight, I'll settle for being your Queen."

Sonya could waste no more time on talk. Still kissing Charlotte, she pushed her gently down onto the bed. "Then allow me to make love to you, my Queen."

Trembling in anticipation and also nervousness at her impending first sexual encounter with a woman, Charlotte lay there, surrendering herself to Sonya. "The Queen is all yours," she gasped.

Upon entering the room, Charlotte had removed her jacket. Sonya was left with a t-shirt and a bra to remove, which only took her a matter of seconds to accomplish. For the first time, she got to see Charlotte's breasts. "Gorgeous," she muttered as she began to caress them with her hands and softly kiss them, focusing particularly on the nipples.

Lying with her eyes closed, Charlotte bathed in the affection she was receiving, loving every moment of it. She was warm and wet, more than ready for Sonya to shift her attention down there.

But Sonya was in no rush. She was adept at building anticipation before giving a girl the ultimate pleasure of an orgasm. Taking her sweet time, Sonya gradually moved down Charlotte's body, using her hands, kisses and her tongue to heighten Charlotte's enjoyment the whole time. She also mumbled occasional sweet nothings to help put her girl at ease, knowing that there would be a certain amount of instinctive reluctance on this, their first time.

Reaching the top of Charlotte's jeans, Sonya unbuttoned them and pulled them down, then did the same with her panties.

Charlotte let out a short cry when Sonya's tongue went between her legs for the first time.

"Mmm, Queen," Sonya purred. "I'm going to need you to come for me."

"I want to," Charlotte said in between heavy breaths. She gripped the bedcover tightly in her fists as she began losing control.

After expertly building Charlotte up, Sonya knew it wouldn't take long for her to climax now that she was licking away at her pussy. And so it proved to be. With a loud, ecstatic moan, Charlotte released, covering the lower part of Sonya's face in her fluid.

"Oh my god," Charlotte gasped, lying there breathing heavily, sweating and feeling exhausted after a night of such emotional extremes.

"How was that for you, my Queen?" Sonya asked. She ran her fingers across her face so that they came away with Charlotte's come on them, and put them in her mouth one by one to clean them.

Watching her do it, Charlotte felt loved in a way that she hadn't been for a long time. Working for WWE could be a lonely business. But tonight, with Sonya, she had been with someone who undoubtedly loved her. "It was amazing, Son. I can't tell you how much I needed that; needed you."

"About as much as I needed it, and needed you," Sonya said. "I'll be right back."

Sonya got off the bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face. When she was done, she went back out into the room. Finding Charlotte now in bed, Sonya undressed and joined her under the covers.

"You're so beautiful, you know that?" Charlotte said adoringly. "Everything about you is literally perfect."

"I could say the same to you," Sonya replied.

They started kissing again, spending a few minutes enjoying it before Charlotte put her head down on her pillow.

"You look exhausted, Queen," Sonya said softly.

"I am. But in the best possible way."

Charlotte sounded so tired that Sonya knew she would be asleep in the very near future. She put an arm around her girlfriend, watching her eyes close. In moments, her breathing slowed and her mouth fell slightly open. She was sleeping.

"Sleep tight, Queen," Sonya whispered lovingly. "I love you." She kissed Charlotte's forehead, her lips barely making contact.

Closing her eyes, Sonya drifted off to sleep with her Queen in her arms.


	8. Chapter 8

For about ten minutes, Sonya had been awake, lying there looking at Charlotte, who was snoring gently. Sonya found it adorable, thinking how tired her Queen must have been the previous night to have fallen asleep so quickly and to have slept like a log ever since.

Needing to get up and take a shower, Sonya extricated herself from under the covers as carefully as she could, not wanting to disturb Charlotte from her slumber. She managed to pull it off, Charlotte's light snoring continuing as Sonya walked towards the bathroom.

Opening the door as quietly as she could, Sonya entered the bathroom, then closed the door behind her in the same manner. "I'd make an excellent thief," she said under her breath, giving the reflection in the mirror above the sink a crafty smile.

Sonya turned on the water, making sure it was set to be nice and hot. She hoped the sound of the running water wouldn't wake Charlotte, but she figured having the door closed would shut out enough of the noise.

After undressing, Sonya stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed. Closing her eyes, she stood under the hot water, face upturned towards it. She found it the best way to wake up each morning. She would stand there for a couple of minutes while the bathroom filled with steam, allowing it to cleanse her.

Running her hands through her hair to help the water get through it, Sonya kept her eyes closed. She found showering more pleasurable that way. She was enjoying the shower so much that she didn't sense the curtain opening behind her.

Cautiously, naked, Charlotte entered the shower behind her girlfriend, thankful of how loud the water way. Sonya hadn't heard the door opening, or the curtain moving along the rail. Charlotte closed it again, then stepped up behind Sonya, who was still oblivious to her presence.

Putting her arms around Sonya, Charlotte cupped her breasts, pulling Sonya to her in the same motion. "Good morning," Charlotte whispered into her ear.

"Mmmm, morning," Sonya purred as her breasts were sensually massaged. She loved the fact that her girl apparently wasn't lacking confidence now that they had committed to a relationship. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"I'm glad you did. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to come and join you in here. And I wouldn't have been able to do this." Charlotte changed position slightly and slipped a couple of fingers of her right hand between Sonya's legs, finding that she was wet from more than shower water.

"I've never fingered a woman before," Charlotte said in a sultry tone as she started to go about the task.

"You're doing just fine," Sonya gasped. She had kept her eyes shut the whole time, enjoying the sensations that were being provided for her.

"You know how I want to start today, honey?" Charlotte asked a couple of minutes later, as she sensed Sonya approaching her peak.

"No?" Sonya gasped.

"By coming for your Queen."

"Glad to," Sonya cried. A moment later, she began convulsing and moaning loudly in pleasure.

"There we go. Come for your Queen," Charlotte coaxed.

Crying out in ecstasy, Sonya did exactly as she had been told.

"There we go," Charlotte purred.

"What a way to start a day," Sonya said blissfully, turning around and setting her eyes on her girl for the first time since she had entered the shower. "Christ, Char, you're so beautiful. You do something to me like I've never experienced before."

Even with her hair soaking wet and water running down her body, Charlotte managed to look regal. "That's good. Now you may do something for your Queen. Wash me."

Loving the slight element of roleplay, Sonya nodded. "The Queen orders, I shall obey."

* * *

_Smackdown Live – January 29th 2019_

Smackdown's second hour began with Sonya Deville's music playing. The Smackdown Women's Champion walked out onto the stage, for once not wearing ring attire. Instead, she had her new 'Unleash the Deville within' shirt on, with jeans and black boots. The look was completed with a pair of black aviator style sunglasses perched on her forehead and her title belt around her waist.

Beside Sonya, Charlotte Flair walked onto the stage. She was wearing her latest 'Wooooo' shirt, with black pants and boots that were not all that dissimilar to Sonya's. Both women seemed fairly satisfied with life, judging by the confidence with which they walked.

"It was a night of mixed fortunes at the Royal Rumble for Sonya Deville and Charlotte Flair," Tom Phillips said. "Deville made a monumental statement when she made Becky Lynch tap out to the Kimura, ensuring that she retained the Smackdown Women's Championship. Whereas Flair made a surprise return from her elbow injury, entering the rumble match at number twenty eight. However, after eliminating three people, Charlotte came up short as Ember Moon claimed a career-changing victory."

"Ember Moon earned herself the right to choose which champion she will face at Wrestlemania," Byron Saxton said. "Will she opt for Ronda Rousey, the Raw Women's Champion, or will she want to face Sonya Deville?"

"Obviously I was there at Raw last night," Corey Graves said. "Moon was asked about that choice, and she said she hasn't decided yet who she wants to face. It struck me that Ember doesn't have much confidence in herself to beat either Rousey or Deville."

"What a ridiculous thing to say, Graves," Phillips said. "The fact that Ember didn't want to make a decision last night has nothing to do with confidence. Why shouldn't she bide her time if that's what she wants to do?"

The commentators stopped their bickering because Charlotte and Sonya were in the ring, both holding microphones, and Charlotte was ready to speak. Deville's music faded out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!" Charlotte proclaimed with real adoration in her voice. Unsurprisingly, boos resulted from her introduction. "Sunday night, despite Ember Moon getting extremely lucky and eliminating me from the Royal Rumble, I left Chase Field an extremely happy woman. Not only am I healed and ready to start kicking ass again on Smackdown, my girl destroyed Becky Lynch, made 'The Man' tap out, and retained her title!"

Sonya glared at the fans as they booed once more. After a moment, she took her turn to speak. "That's right, Char. I showed Becky Lynch, in fact I showed the whole world, exactly what happens when I unleash the Deville inside. I can't begin to tell you how satisfying it was when Becky Lynch tapped out to me. All I'd heard since TLC was that I was a paper champion, that I didn't have what it took to beat 'The Man' one on one. Well, I fought Becky one on one, and I won!"

The final three words had been delivered as a furious shout, taking some of the audience by surprise.

"Wow," Graves said in awe. "Do not get on the wrong side of Sonya Deville."

"I thought my night was going perfectly," Sonya said, back at a normal volume. "Unlike any of you people, I knew that my Queen was going to be in the Royal Rumble. I knew she had drawn number twenty eight. I couldn't see any outcome other than Charlotte winning, and going on to face Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania. And after that match was over? We would have stood side by side, with all of the power and all of the glory. But then Ember Moon came along and ruined it all."

The fans cheered Ember's name, not that Deville paid any attention.

"Ember, I watched Raw last night," Sonya continued. "I saw you tell Charly Caruso you haven't decided yet who you want to face, either Ronda Rousey or me. Well, let me tell you one thing, Ember: I am not afraid to fight you at Wrestlemania. I want to fight you at Wrestlemania. I want to make you regret eliminating my Queen from the Royal Rumble. So pick me, Ember. Pick me before next Monday night, or maybe I'll show up and convince you."

"I love it when you talk like that," Charlotte said to Sonya. She hadn't used her microphone, but her words had been picked up by Sonya's microphone quite clearly. The two women looked at each other adoringly for a second before Charlotte went in for a kiss. A rather male-sounding cheer went up as they began smooching.

The tone of the cheering changed altogether when Ember Moon's music hit. The surprise interruption made Deville and Flair pull apart immediately, whipping around to face the stage as Moon walked out, going through her usual entrance routine while the fans went crazy for her.

"Ember Moon is here on Smackdown!" Phillips cried.

"Deville just laid down a challenge in the most emphatic manner," Saxton said. "But I don't know if she expected Ember to be here to accept it, assuming that's why she's coming out here."

"If that is what's happening, we're going to see one hell of a match at Wrestlemania," Graves commented.

Ember walked quickly to the ring. When she entered, she walked right past Charlotte and Sonya without looking at either of them as she went to fetch a microphone. It demonstrated a lack of intimidation and a lack of respect.

"What I said last night was true," Ember began after her music faded out. "I told Charly Caruso I hadn't decided who I wanted to face at Wrestlemania. But that was last night. Now, I know who I want to face. Sonya, you're talking to the War Goddess. If you want a fight, you've got one. I threw your little girlfriend's ass out of the Royal Rumble, and after I've taken the Smackdown Women's Championship from you, I'll throw your ass out of MetLife Stadium."

The fans cheered Ember's feisty words. Unsurprisingly, Sonya and Charlotte looked a lot less impressed. They shared angry looks, then Charlotte raised her microphone. Stepping closer to Moon, she affected a patronising tone. "Ember, I don't think you get it."

With that, Flair smashed Moon in the face with the microphone, knocking her down.

"Ember got that alright," Graves chirped as Charlotte and Sonya both started kicking the hell out of Ember, who was powerless to defend herself against the onslaught.

"You don't talk shit to me in my ring!" Sonya roared as the beat down continued. Her bad language would need to be bleeped out.

"Enough! Stop! Stop that right now!" It was Paige's voice. The Smackdown GM walked onto the stage as Flair and Deville reluctantly obeyed her order, glaring at her as they backed away from Ember, who took the opportunity to roll out of harm's way to the floor.

"While I'm happy to sign off on Ember Moon facing you, Sonya, at Wrestlemania, I think it would be wise for you to focus on things that are a bit more imminent, such as the fact that you and Charlotte will be facing Becky Lynch and Asuka tonight in a tag team match. Furthermore, there will be a battle royal next week on Smackdown to determine who faces you at the upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view. So I'm going to go ahead and confirm Ember Moon for Wrestlemania, but you're place in that match, Sonya? It's provisional. You've still got to get to Wrestlemania."

Leaving Sonya with plenty to think about, Paige's music hit and she left the stage.

The segment ended with Charlotte and Sonya shown talking, with Sonya appearing to be somewhat concerned about what she had just heard.


	9. Chapter 9

Blessed with a couple of days off, Charlotte had invited Sonya back to her house so that they could spend the time together. After a morning workout at a local gym, they had returned home for what Charlotte had described as a seriously lazy day. "We'll curl up together on the couch, eat Ben and Jerrys ice cream like there's no tomorrow, and we can binge watch a series on Netflix," she had said before they left for the gym.

"Sounds amazing," Sonya had replied. "There's nothing like a lazy day every now and then to recharge the batteries. The company will also help."

Charlotte had smiled. "You say the sweetest things, for a devil."

Sonya had laughed. "That's how I lure you in, so I can have my way with you."

"Sounds perfectly fine to me."

Both women had laughed, then Sonya had asked what series they could binge watch.

"I'm thinking we could start Breaking Bad," Charlotte had said. "Believe it or not, I've never seen it yet. People keep recommending it to me, but I've never gotten around to it. I've been meaning to get to it for ages now."

"I've been wanting to watch it too," Sonya had revealed. "We're probably the only two people in the world not to have seen it at this point."

Charlotte had laughed before saying, "We can watch it together, then."

And so it had been decided. Now, a couple of hours later, Sonya and Charlotte were indeed curled up on the couch together, each with a big pot of ice cream and a spoon in hand. It hadn't been long ago that they had been on the same couch, filming a segment for Smackdown. It had been that day that feelings had really started to kick into high gear between them, and Sonya remember it fondly. "It's a funny old world, isn't it?" she said to Charlotte, stopping her before she hit play on episode one of Breaking Bad.

"Who said that?" Charlotte asked, picking up on what she found to be rather strange, yet familiar wording.

"Me," Sonya grinned.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I've heard or read it somewhere before. Maybe not, though," Charlotte shrugged. "Anyway, what did you mean?"

"I was just thinking about how it wasn't long ago you and I were colleagues and nothing more. Even though I had a crush on you, I feel like I never would have said or done anything about it. But then Vince decided to go with this angle of his, and chose the two of us to work together. Without that, there's likely no way we would have gotten together."

"Yet now here we are," Charlotte said. "You kissed me, and it stole my heart. You're right, it is crazy how things work out. Not that I'm complaining in anyway."

"Oh, neither am I," Sonya assured her. "I'm sitting on a couch with a big tub of ice cream, and I've got a beautiful Queen next to me. There's no way I could be happier right now."

Charlotte's heart melted, like it did every time Sonya called her Queen. It had been a very long time since she had been in love with someone, and even then she hadn't fallen this quickly. The depth of feeling she had for Sonya already was quite remarkable, even more so because it was her first relationship with a woman. That, of course, brought its own problems. In recent days, Charlotte had found herself worrying more and more about how she was going to handle what looked like being the inevitable moment she had to break the news to her family.

"Char? You look troubled all of a sudden," Sonya commented, with a look of concern on her face.

For a moment, Charlotte said nothing. She focused her attention on scooping out a large spoonful of ice cream from her pot.

"Did I say something wrong?" Sonya asked, worry coming through clearly in her tone.

"No, not at all," Charlotte said reassuringly. "I've been thinking for a few days now about the fact that I'm going to have to tell my family about us. I don't know how that's going to go, and it makes me nervous every time I find myself thinking about it."

"Yeah," Sonya sighed, a grimace forming on her face. "Coming out is the hardest part about being gay. I was very lucky that my family were very understanding. A lot of people don't have it that easy. I made up for it when I had to come out to Triple H in front of a room full of people, on TV no less."

"I remember that!" Charlotte exclaimed, her eyes widening. "It was on Tough Enough, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Sonya chuckled. "Hunter asked me if I was in a relationship. I hadn't expected that question at all, but I knew I had to tell the truth. I said I had a girlfriend, but we weren't married yet. For a moment, everyone went silent while they took in what I'd said. I remember worrying in that moment about what reaction I was going to get. I was embarrassed. I'm sure I must have gone red. But then everyone started applauding. It was such a lovely moment, and it will always stay with me. It told me so much about how accepting WWE are of the LGBT community."

"What a great story," Charlotte said warmly. She leaned over for a quick kiss, tasting the mint flavoured ice cream on Sonya's lips as they touched.

"Yeah. And hopefully you'll have a similar experience with your family. We need to think about the fact that it might go that way, though. I don't know your dad, and I've never met your mom or brother."

"I think they'll be okay. It's dad who might be the problem," Charlotte said warily. "The thing is, he grew up in a different era to us. He was a wrestler in a different era to us. This used to be a very homophobic business. I'm not saying I've ever heard my dad say anything against gay people, I haven't, but it wouldn't surprise me all that much if he had negative thoughts. Something tells me he might not be ecstatic when his daughter comes to visit and brings a girlfriend with her."

"I understand all of that," Sonya said, grimacing again. "It can be very tough. And I know that older people can be less open to accepting relationships like ours. What I can say is that whenever I've seen and Ric together, I've had no doubt that your relationship is close. That leads me to hope he will do his best to understand where you're coming from, and that as long as you, his daughter, are happy, then he's happy for you. That's pretty much how my dad reacted, after some initial shock."

"Initial shock I'm expecting for sure. I mean, I've been married twice, both times to men. I'm sure the very last thing anyone expects at this point is for me to get into a relationship with a woman. It would be stupid not to expect people to react with shock."

Sonya had known Charlotte had been married previously, and that she had suffered domestic violence. She hadn't known there had been two marriages. The poor girl had been through a hell of a lot in her pursuit of happiness. There would be another time to talk about all of that, though.

"That's a sensible way to approach it," Sonya said. "If your dad does react that way, try not to get upset or angry with him. He might need some time to come to terms with the news. It's possible he might even dismiss you, calling what we have a fad or something on your part. I've known that to happen to people when they come out, and it's very hurtful. I don't want to upset you, Char, but I think it's only right that I tell you everything I know."

"No, I appreciate that," Charlotte said, taking her hand. "I know you're doing your best to help me with this. I wouldn't want you to sugar coat it and tell me everything's going to be fine, when we both know it might not be."

"What I can promise you is that I'll be there for you, no matter what," Sonya said sincerely. "If you want me to, I'll go with you to see your dad. We can both sit down with him and tell him how we feel about each other, if that's how you want to play it."

"Yes, I'd like you there with me," Charlotte decided. She hadn't needed to think about it. The moral support of her girlfriend would be much-needed when the time came. "I'm not talking about doing this soon, you understand?"

"Oh, of course," Sonya nodded. "My advice is leave it a month or two before thinking seriously about coming out. Obviously I don't want anything to go wrong between us, but it's a fact of life that relationships don't work out. It would be foolish to rush in before we can say that we've been together for some time and things are going great. Does that make sense, or does it sound too negative? I really didn't intend it to."

Charlotte shook her head and looked lovingly at Sonya. "I doesn't sound negative, it sounds perfectly logical. I'm thankful to you for being so up front and honest about all this. Again, I wouldn't want it sugar coated." She took a deep breath and rubbed her face with the hand that wasn't holding her tub of ice cream. Much as the conversation with Sonya had been reassuring and helpful, it was still a tough subject, and Charlotte felt stressed. "I know it's early, but I fancy a glass of wine. What do you say?"

"Sounds good to me," Sonya replied. But before Charlotte could get up, Sonya pulled her close and kissed her.

"Mmm," Charlotte moaned happily into Sonya's mouth as the kiss got more passionate by the second. "Damn, Son, you drive me crazy, you know that?"

"I did know that, Queen," Sonya replied sloppily in between kisses. "You know what? I think I'm done eating ice cream for today. There's something else I want to eat instead."

"What's that?" Charlotte asked, feeling herself getting wet as she anticipated the answer that she knew was coming.

"Your pussy," Sonya said longingly.

"You'll get no complaint from me," Charlotte gasped.

With that, Sonya pushed her backwards, so that she was lying on her back on the couch. Charlotte was only just able to drop her ice cream pot to the floor without it tipping over.

"Do your worst, peasant," the Queen taunted as Sonya set her ice cream on a small table at the end of the couch.

Sonya put on what she hoped was her best mean-looking smile. "Trust me, I will."


	10. Chapter 10

On the upcoming edition of Smackdown, neither Sonya nor Charlotte were booked to compete. Charlotte, despite having returned to action in the Royal Rumble match, was still being used sparingly as she brought her elbow back to one hundred per-cent. Sonya had no such fitness worries, and found it kind of odd that she was wrestling less now that she was Smackdown Women's Champion than she had before winning the title.

At least she was going to appear on the show, she reasoned as she walked back from the makeup area, having been made to look as beautiful and aggressive as possible, as befitted her character. Visiting the makeup girls ahead of her, Charlotte had also been made up in a similar manner, ready for their appearance together on the show. They would both be joining the commentary team for the battle royal to decide Sonya's challenger at Fastlane.

When she walked back into the locker room, Sonya felt weak at the knees the moment she saw Charlotte. Her hair had been braided with incredible detail, and her makeup was stunning. For some reason, the black lipstick that had been applied as a finishing touch looked extremely alluring.

Charlotte was just pulling on a black leather jacket when she saw Sonya enter the room. She spread her arms and smiled. "How do I look?"

Mindful of the fact that so far as anyone else in the room knew, their relationship was only in kayfabe, Sonya chose her response carefully. "Great," was all she said, accompanying it with a smile.

"Thanks," Charlotte said happily. "You do, too. Your best look is with your hair down, and they make you look really fierce."

"Agreed," Mandy Rose said from nearby. "Both of you are doing amazing jobs with these new characters."

"Aww, thank you," Sonya said to one of her best friends. Even with that status, Mandy had been given no clue about the relationship with Charlotte. Sonya was the kind of person who really did keep things private when she wanted them to be private. As far as Mandy knew, Sonya was only traveling with Charlotte these days because they were an on-screen team, and it was common practice for teammates to travel together.

To move the conversation away from dangerous territory, Charlotte brought up the tournament that was to be announced on that night's show, the winner of which would be crowned the first Women's European Champion. Charlotte was in the tournament, with her first match set for the following week.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Mandy asked Sonya and Charlotte, meaning the tournament.

"Well, if it's not me," Charlotte said, "I'd like it to be someone who's never held a title before, such as yourself or Asuka. Or even someone like Zelina, maybe."

"More likely it will be either you or Becky," Mandy said. Although she had tried to hide it, there was a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"I don't know about that," Sonya said. "I got a title run, so there's no reason you shouldn't."

"I guess we'll see," Mandy replied.

Sonya hoped she had been imagining the jealousy she felt like she had picked up on. Of all the people in the locker room, she would have expected Mandy to be the happiest for her that she was Smackdown Women's Champion. She wondered if she ought to have a sit down with her friend at some point and make sure everything was okay between them.

"Want to go grab a coffee?" Charlotte asked Sonya, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Sure," Sonya smiled. "I'll catch you later," she said to Mandy, then followed Charlotte towards the door.

* * *

_Smackdown Live – February 5th 2019_

The battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Smackdown Women's Championship was the main event of the night.

After Greg Hamilton announced the contest, Sonya Deville's music was first to play.

"Well, here comes our Women's Champion," Tom Phillips said on commentary. "Needless to say, Sonya Deville is not taking part in the battle royal. I guess she's coming out to scout her next opponent first hand."

Sonya walked onto the stage, greeted with a chorus of boos. She was wearing her 'Unleash the Deville inside' shirt and a pair of jeans. As usual when she wasn't competing, there was a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on her forehead. The Smackdown Women's Championship was worn proudly around her waist.

When Sonya reached the bottom of the ramp and started to walk around the ring, it became apparent that she was on her way to the commentary table.

"Looks like we're going to be graced with the champ's presence," Graves said, sounding like he was sucking up before Sonya even got within earshot. As she approached the table, he stood up and encouraged his colleagues to do the same. "Get up, you two. Where are your manners? Hello, Sonya," he said as she reached his side of the table.

"Hello, Corey," Sonya said after putting on a spare headset.

Phillips and Saxton also greeted her, before Phillips said, "It seems you're out here to scout your next opponent?"

"Is there a question in that?" Sonya said objectionably as she sat down. "Of course that's why I'm here. I'm not here for the company, trust me."

"Thanks a lot," Saxton mumbled.

Sonya's music faded out. Surprisingly, it was replaced by Charlotte's.

"That's right, guys, the Queen is joining us too!" Sonya announced proudly as the crowd booed for a second time.

"We really are lucky tonight," Graves said.

"Look at her. Look how beautiful she is," Sonya said as Charlotte posed regally on the stage, arms outstretched in her familiar pose. "A Queen in every sense of the word."

Charlotte walked to the commentary table. When she got there, Sonya was ready and waiting to give her a peck on the lips before the regular commentators got the chance to greet her.

"Charlotte, welcome," Graves said. "What a pleasant surprise to have you join us."

"I'm sure it is a pleasure for you," Charlotte replied as she put on a headset and sat down next to Sonya. "We're out here to see who Sonya is going to face at Fastlane."

"No disrespect, Charlotte," Phillips said. "But…"

Charlotte cut him off. "When you start a sentence by saying no disrespect, you're about to disrespect me."

"I don't mean to, but I have to ask why you felt the need to come out? You're not in the battle royal, so I don't know why it concerns you."

"It concerns me because it concerns Sonya," Charlotte snapped. "I'm sure you have no idea what true love is, Phillips, so I'm not surprised you don't get it."

While that exchange had been taking place, Carmella had been making her entrance.

Over the next few minutes, the rest of the Smackdown women's roster came out to the ring. Every single one of them had been given the chance to earn themselves a shot at Deville.

BREAK

Fifteen minutes later, Naomi was sent flying over the top rope and into elimination by Becky Lynch. Two women now remained in the battle royal: Lynch and Carmella.

A 'Becky' chant filled the arena as the final two competitors locked eyes from across the ring.

"Sonya, you'll be facing either Becky Lynch or Carmella," Saxton said. "Do you have a preference?"

Sonya was shown with an indifferent look on her face. "Carmella, I guess. I mean, I've already tapped out Becky. What would be the point of doing that again?"

Charlotte laughed. "So much for Becky being The Man."

Becky and Carmella went at it for a couple of minutes, until Becky hit a Bexploder suplex.

Figuring that would be enough for an elimination, Becky hauled Carmella to her feet and whipped her towards the ropes.

Carmella didn't go over the top rope. Instead, she grabbed hold of it by looping both arms over it, standing with her back to the ropes.

Wanting to finish the match off, Becky ran forwards. Her intention had been to clothesline Carmella out of the ring, but Carmella lowered her head and used Becky's momentum to lift her over the top rope.

Somehow, Becky was able to land on the ring apron, avoiding elimination. She spun around to attack Carmella.

It was a move that Carmella had expected. As Becky turned around, Mella was already in the process of delivering a superkick. It connected flush with Becky's jaw, knocking her off the apron to the floor.

There was a noticeable groan from the crowd. Carmella was the winner. Although she was usually popular with the fans, they couldn't choose her over Becky.

"Carmella wins!" Phillips called. "It's going to be Carmella versus Sonya Deville at Fastlane!"

"Hold my glasses, Queen," Sonya said as she took her headset off.

Leaving her glasses and title belt with Charlotte, Sonya got up and walked away from the commentary table.

"Wait a minute, where is she going?" Phillips demanded.

"To show Carmella what happens when the Deville inside is unleashed," Charlotte said.

In the ring, Carmella was dancing in celebration of her important and hard-won victory. Unfortunately for her, it gave Sonya the chance to slide under the ropes behind her, unnoticed. Even the fans trying to shout warnings didn't get through to Mella, who never knew a vicious kick was coming to the back of her head until she took it, collapsing to the mat like a bag of wet sand.

Arms outstretched, Sonya roared like a wild beast, the veins standing out in her neck.

"Here we go! This is what happens to anyone who gets in there with Sonya," Charlotte said.

Sonya straddled Carmella and began savagely punching her in the face, yelling with the force she put behind each blow.

"Come on, this is ridiculous," Phillips objected. "Sonya Deville attacked Carmella from behind. What is this supposed to prove?"

"I think I just told you," Charlotte said pointedly.

With Carmella totally beaten down, Sonya got up and gave another scream of rage. She wasn't done yet. Picking up her soon-to-be challenger, Sonya threw her through the ropes on the commentary table side of the ring like a piece of irrelevant garbage.

"Clear the damn table!" Sonya shouted to Charlotte.

Charlotte was only too happy to help out. She removed the decorative cover from the table and tossed it aside, before doing the same with the monitors.

Table now cleared, Sonya picked up Carmella and got her in a powerbomb position in front of the table.

Wasting no time on words or ceremony, Sonya lifted Carmella up into the air and drove her through the table with real authority.

Looking down at the remnants of Carmella, lying on top of the destroyed table, Sonya yelled again, this time pleased with her actions.

Sonya walked over to a headset that had been left lying on the floor when the table imploded. She picked it up and spoke into the microphone. "That's just a taste of what's coming at Fastlane."

As Sonya threw the headset aside, her music began to play and Charlotte handed her the Smackdown Women's Championship. The episode ended with Sonya standing over Carmella, holding the title belt high in the air while Charlotte raised her other hand.

Carmella was the winner of the battle royal, but she certainly didn't look like a winner as Smackdown went off air.


	11. Chapter 11

_Smackdown Live – February 12th 2019_

The first contest of the night saw Lana take on Charlotte in the first round of the Women's European Championship tournament, the final of which was to take place at Wrestlemania.

In her first singles match since her elbow surgery, Charlotte made short work of Lana, utterly destroying her for a couple of minutes before getting a three count with Natural Selection.

Wearing her title belt, Sonya had accompanied Charlotte to the ring and watched the short and one-sided affair from ringside. When it was over, she climbed into the ring, shoved the referee out of the way and took pleasure in being the one to raise her girlfriend's hand in victory.

"You're looking at the first European champ!" Sonya yelled at the fans while Charlotte stood there looking as regal as ever.

With a disparaging look down at the remains of Lana, Charlotte led the way to the ropes. The current two most dominant women on the blue brand left the ring as the show went to commercial.

Half an hour later, Sonya and Charlotte were shown once more. Charlotte had changed out of her ring attire, and they were walking out into the parking garage, obviously about to leave the arena.

"Sonya! Charlotte!" Kayla Braxton called out, hurrying over just in time to stop them as they reached their rental car.

"What?" Charlotte demanded of the diminutive interviewer, who had chosen to go to the passenger's side of the car.

"I wanted to get some thoughts from you on the Women's European Championship tournament, but it looks like you're leaving?"

"Yes, we're leaving," Charlotte confirmed icily. "I dismantled Lana earlier, Sonya doesn't have a match, so our business here tonight is done. We're going to dinner, where we'll be toasting the fact that we run the Smackdown Women's Division."

"And don't you forget it," Sonya added, pointing a threatening finger at Braxton.

With that, they got into the car and Charlotte slammed her door shut, preventing Kayla from getting another question in.

"There you have it," Kayla said, looking into the camera as the car fired up and pulled away. "Sonya and Charlotte, the self-proclaimed most dominant women on Smackdown, are going to a celebratory dinner together."

* * *

Right before the main event of the night, a shot of an expensive restaurant appeared on the screen. Among the well dressed clientele were Sonya and Charlotte, sitting at a table for two with expensive-looking meals in front of them, along with glasses of red wine. They were chatting away, having a great time as they ate.

"I was literally about to snap Becky's arm," Sonya said gleefully. "She was squealing like a pig, flailing around like she might have a chance of getting out of my Kimura."

Charlotte grunted derisively, a forkful of fish ready to be eaten after she spoke. "Some chance. But she's 'The Man', I heard."

"I heard that too," Sonya said. "You know what else I heard? Becky's hand pounding on the mat as she tapped out to me."

Both women laughed heartily, revelling in Becky's failure and Sonya's success. Slowly, Charlotte leaned across the table, wanting a kiss.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wooden chair smashed Charlotte in the back, exploding into pieces across the restaurant.

As Charlotte and her chair fell sideways to the floor, the other restaurant customers all got up and ran, some screaming in panic. Flair lay motionless, face down on the floor.

The camera panned across to reveal who had swung the chair at Charlotte. It was Carmella. "I'm not here for a dance break," she told Sonya, who leapt to her feet, ready for a fight.

Carmella had the upper hand, though, by virtue of the fact that she was able to start punching Sonya as she was getting up.

On the defensive, Sonya tried her best to get her hands up and block the incoming blows. She had limited success.

Pressing her advantage, Carmella sent Sonya reeling against the back wall of the restaurant.

Backing off slightly, Carmella superkicked Sonya in the face, making her collapse to the floor.

"You want to put me through a table, Sonya?" Carmella yelled. With that, she dragged Sonya to her feet and body slammed her through the closest table. There had been two meals on it at the time, so in addition to the pain of going through the table, Sonya was left with some kind of white sauce from the food all over her clothes and in her hair.

Still Carmella wasn't done. There was a bar at the far end of the room, now without a bartender behind it after everyone had fled the scene. Carmella hauled her foe up once more, grabbed her by the back of her head and ran towards the bar, propelling Sonya over the top of it and into the drinks rack behind, before she fell out of sight to the floor.

"Maybe now we can have a dance break?" Carmella said to her unconscious and unseen opponent.

Turning to face the camera, Carmella did a quick floss before walking out of the shot, leaving a scene of utter destruction behind.

* * *

The scene at the restaurant had actually been taped on Monday, ready for use on Smackdown. Watching it on a TV on the locker room wall along with everyone else, Sonya and Charlotte joined in with the ripple of laughter at the mess Sonya had been in by the time she went flying over the bar.

"You wouldn't believe how long it took me to get that crap out of my hair," Sonya said, drawing another ripple of laughter.

"Oh my god, she finished it off with a floss!" Zelina Vega called out, laughing even harder.

"You have to have a dance break," Carmella giggled.

With the show now moving on to the main event, the women began talking among their usual groups of friends. Sonya had noticed that Mandy Rose had only made a token gesture of joining in with the laughter. Something was obviously on her mind.

"Hey," Sonya said in a friendly manner, approaching Mandy. "That was some ass kicking they had me take. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have a match next week, huh?"

Sonya had been speaking in a cheerful manner, but Mandy looked singularly unimpressed. "Are you serious right now?" she demanded. "You're going to complain to me about not getting matches? You're the champion, Sonya, or did you forget that?"

Taken aback, Sonya wanted to avoid having what was for some reason going to be a heated conversation in the middle of the locker room. Several of the other women were already looking at them, including Charlotte.

"Uh, why don't we go outside and talk?" Sonya suggested.

Mandy also realised they were about to become the centre of attention if she carried on. "Fine," she huffed, heading for the door.

Sighing, Sonya followed along behind. She made eye contact with Charlotte, whose expression asked if she was okay.

Sonya gave a shrug in response. She didn't know what Mandy's problem with her was, do she didn't know if she was okay.

Following Mandy out into the hallway, Sonya closed the locker room door behind her. "What's going on with you, Mand?" she asked. "You seem pissed with me for some reason."

"Oh, you think?" Mandy snapped, standing with her hands on her hips. "What planet are you on these days? You actually stood there and complained to me about not having matches. You're the damn champion, Sonya!"

Wow, Sonya thought. Jealousy was what this was about? One of her supposed best friends was angry that she had been given her first title run? What kind of bullshit was that? "Yeah, I'm the champion," she replied, more heatedly than might have been helpful. "So, what, I'm not supposed to wrestle anymore? And you're going to come with this, whatever this is?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Mandy said, shaking her head. "When did I last have a match, apart from the battle royal last week? Can you tell me that?"

"No," Sonya admitted after a moment. It didn't escape her that it was pretty shameful on her part to not know the answer.

"Four weeks ago. Four! Apart from that battle royal, I've not been on TV in four weeks, and you haven't even noticed. And not only haven't you noticed, you think you're hard done by because you're sitting at the commentary table with the women's title!"

"Alright, I'm sorry," Sonya said, wanting to cool things down. She wasn't above admitting when she was in the wrong. "I'm sorry for complaining to you, and I'm sorry for not realising how much they've been neglecting you. You should have said something. You know you can always talk to me about stuff."

"Oh my god, really?" Mandy cried in disbelief.

"What?" Sonya objected.

"I have called you a bunch of times since we stopped traveling together. Every couple of days I was calling or texting at one point, before I stopped bothering. I hardly ever got an answer or a reply. You want to know what I think? You got the title, you got an angle with Charlotte, and that was it for you. You moved on to bigger and better things, right?"

Sonya was genuinely hurt by that, even if it was true that she had been doing a poor job of staying in touch with Mandy. The truth of it was she had been having such a great time with Charlotte, she hadn't kept up with anyone else. Even so, she resented what Mandy had said. "That's not fair," she insisted. "I would never think about a friend like that."

"But you would treat a friend like it, evidently," Mandy snapped.

Realising it was time to give serious ground if she wanted to resolve this argument, Sonya held up her hands in a sign of submission. "Alright, I'm sorry. You're right, I've not be there for you, Mand. I'm glad you've confronted me on it, because it wasn't deliberate. It really wasn't. The truth is, Charlotte and I really hit it off since we started traveling together. You know how it can be when a new friendship takes off." She had deliberately chosen to use the word friendship, not relationship.

"Yeah, you forget about your other friends," Mandy said sourly.

"I haven't forgotten you," Sonya promised her sincerely. "You're my best friend in that locker room, you know that. I've dropped the ball, and you have a right to be mad at me for it. What do you say I make it up to you tomorrow? Before the show, meet up with Charlotte and I, and we'll go to a donut bar. She can make a guest appearance on Dandy's Donuts. What do you say?"

Dandy's Donuts was a fun YouTube series where Sonya and Mandy ate and talked about donuts, a favourite food for both of them.

Finally, seeing that Sonya felt bad and meant what she was saying about making it right, Mandy relented and decided to cut her a break. "Okay, you're on," she said, taking the heat out of her voice. "I guess I went in hard just now, but it had been bottling up for a while."

"Don't bottle things up. Come talk to me. Slap me in the face if you need to, just get me to listen," Sonya said with a hint of a smile.

"I'll hold you to that," Mandy said, managing a smile of her own.

"Good. Now give me a hug, girl."

Conflict resolved, the two friends embraced each other. It was a relief to Sonya, who had briefly feared things might have gotten out of control.

"I do have one question," Mandy said as they parted.

"What's that?"

"What do we do if Charlotte doesn't like donuts?"

Sonya laughed loudly. "Trust me, she likes donuts."


	12. Chapter 12

"I can understand why she was upset," Charlotte said. She was sitting with Sonya in a small donut bar, waiting to meet up with Mandy, who was apparently on her way to join them.

For the second time, Sonya had recalled the heated exchange of views with her friend from the day before, and for the second time, Charlotte had been sympathetic. There was no getting away from it; the new couple had been so wrapped up in each other that they had been neglecting their friends. Charlotte had already sent texts to several people, in case they were starting to feel the same way about her that Mandy had been about Sonya.

"Definitely," Sonya said. "I felt really bad once I had a chance to sit down and think things through properly. But all's well that ends well, right? We patched things up, and Dandy's Donuts is back in business."

Loving the happy smile on her girl's face, Charlotte returned it in kind. "And with a special guest, too."

"Yeah. It'll just be a short video we'll film, a few minutes long, talking about the donuts."

"In every detail," Charlotte said, confirming her understanding. "I've seen a couple of episodes before."

"You have?" Sonya asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I've seen you sitting there, stuffing your face and talking with your mouth full," Charlotte chuckled.

"That's the best bit about the show!" Sonya exclaimed, smiling broadly. "Donuts aren't as much fun if you don't eat them like a pig."

Charlotte laughed. "Noted. Hey, here's Mandy."

The third member of the trio had just walked through the door into the small donut bar. "Hey, guys," she said, walking the few paces to where Sonya and Charlotte were sitting.

Greetings were exchanged, then Sonya and Charlotte got up, ready to go up to the bar and order their donuts.

"I think that, seeing as you're the guest on the show, you should pick the donuts we review," Mandy suggested to Charlotte.

"Works for me," Charlotte said easily.

"Char was just commenting on how we eat like pigs in our videos," Sonya advised her friend. "She said we..."

Charlotte put a hand over Sonya's mouth to shut her up. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, exaggerating her outrage for comedic effect. "I said nothing of the sort."

"Yes you did," Sonya giggled into the hand, her words muffled but understandable.

Mandy laughed at their antics. "Don't worry about it. It's usually Sonya who eats that way. I'm quite ladylike about it."

"Yeah, right," Sonya mumbled into Charlotte's palm, just before it was removed from her mouth.

"See how she treats me?" Sonya asked Mandy.

"Right when I was starting to ship Flairville, too," Mandy joked.

Sonya couldn't help herself making eye contact with Charlotte and smiling. Simply hearing Mandy say Flairville made her happy, even if she didn't know they were an actual couple.

"We'd better order before they kick us out of here," Charlotte said. Realistically, it wasn't likely to happen. There were only a couple of other customers in the donut bar.

"Alright, what are we getting?" Sonya asked.

Charlotte selected chocolate glazed donuts, and Sonya purchased a bag of five of them.

Donuts in hand, they walked out into the parking lot, got into Sonya and Charlotte's hire car. They got ready to film the short YouTube video by positioning a camera on the middle of the dash. Sonya sat in the driver's seat, with Charlotte in the front passenger seat. Mandy sat in the back, between the two front seats so that she would be in the centre of the shot.

"All set," Sonya reported. Without waiting for either of the others to acknowledge the fact, she started the camera filming. "Hi everyone!"

"Welcome back to Dandy's Donuts!" Sonya and Mandy said simultaneously.

"It's been a while, but we're back! And we have a special guest!" Mandy said, hyping it up.

"The Queen is here!" Sonya added, a huge smile on her face as she looked at Charlotte.

"Hi, guys!" Charlotte smiled, looking into the camera. "It's great to be here. Now let's eat some donuts!"

Sonya and Mandy briefly talked about where they were and where they had purchased the donuts. Then Sonya handed out donuts from the bag.

Mandy described the donuts for the viewers, before inviting Charlotte take the first bite and talk about her reaction to the taste.

In keeping with the other episodes of Dandy's Donuts, Charlotte didn't stand on ceremony or manners. She bit a large portion out of her donut and started speaking while chewing it. "Mmm, this very nice. The chocolate glazing is delicious."

"The texture is nice too," Sonya said, chewing her own donut.

"Lovely texture," Mandy commented.

They continued discussing what had turned out to be the top quality donuts until they had all finished eating.

"There's two left," Sonya reported, taking them out of the bag.

"One for me," Mandy said quickly, snatching it away. "The two of you will have to share. I think you should do it Lady and the Tramp style, too!"

"Oh god, really?" Charlotte shrieked while Sonya laughed loudly.

"Yes, really!" Mandy insisted.

"Alright, I'll do it," Sonya decided. She put the last remaining donut in her mouth, holding it with her teeth so that the other half stuck out towards Charlotte. She leaned over towards Charlotte's seat, allowing Flair to meet her halfway.

"Here goes," Charlotte said, giggling like an idiot.

Mindful that the video was going on YouTube, and that her relationship with Sonya was not to be revealed outside of kayfabe, Charlotte did her best to bite off half the donut without her lips touching Sonya's. She managed it, too.

"Awesome!" Sonya muffled through a mouthful of donut after she had stuffed her half into her mouth.

In the back, Mandy was laughing at them. So was Charlotte, and it made bits of donut fall down the front of her shirt, making a real mess. It only intensified the laughter from all three women.

A minute later, Sonya had turned off the camera. There was no doubt in her mind that the viewers would find that episode particularly enjoyable. "I've not laughed like that in a long time," she said, smiling first to Charlotte and then to Mandy.

"Me either," Charlotte said, wiping a tear from her right eye.

"Quite the contrast to how we see you guys on TV these days," Mandy chuckled. She posed, tensing the muscles in her arms and affected a macho voice. "We run Smackdown Live."

Sonya laughed as Charlotte said, "Well, we do run it."

The complaint Mandy had voiced the previous day came back to mind for Sonya. Mandy was annoyed with the lack of time she was getting in the ring. Sonya wondered if as champion, she might be able to help. She had an idea that might achieve exactly that.

"Mand, I'm thinking about what you were saying yesterday," she said.

"Which part?" Mandy asked.

"The part about how they're not giving you ring time. I have an idea we could pitch to Road Dogg."

"Oh, okay. I'm listening," Mandy said with interest, while Charlotte listened keenly.

"Nothing was done to address our friendship. On-screen, I went from being your best friend one minute to being revealed as Charlotte's girlfriend the next. How you felt about it was never addressed."

Mandy nodded. "Okay, so what are you saying?"

"I'm saying we pitch a face turn for you. They teased us fighting each other after you eliminated me from the battle royal at Evolution. They could make it an angle now, with you kicking my ass for turning my back on you. How exactly they'd write it would be up to them, but that's my idea."

"It could be worked into this thing with Mella," Charlotte suggested. "Carmella and Mandy versus Sonya and Charlotte."

"You mean as an angle, not a match," Mandy clarified thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think it would make sense, if we can get them to go for it."

"You're still in the European Championship tournament," Charlotte added.

Mandy grunted a laugh. "Yeah, because I haven't had my first round match yet."

"We're on the same side of the bracket," Charlotte recalled. "We could meet each other in the tournament, and that could be part of the angle."

"I'm loving this, guys," Sonya said happily. "We should all go pitch this together Tuesday night."

"I'm up for that," Charlotte said.

Mandy smiled. "Sounds awesome, guys. Thank you."

With the plan decided upon, Charlotte's attention turned to something a little more immediate. "Guys, we forgot to buy drinks. My mouth is so dry. Can I get you anything?"

Sonya and Mandy put in their requests, and Charlotte got out of the car to go back into the donut bar.

"Sonya Deville!" Mandy admonished almost as soon as the door was closed.

"What?" Sonya asked with concern.

"You're dating Charlotte for real, aren't you?"

Sonya was dumbfounded. How the hell did Mandy know? Her shocked reaction must have dispelled any doubts, for Mandy said, "I knew it. Don't worry, you know I won't say anything to anyone else."

"I really need you not to," Sonya implored her. "This is Charlotte's first relationship with a woman. The absolute last thing she needs is for it to go public before she's had a chance to talk to her family."

"My lips are sealed," Mandy promised. "At least that explains why you lied yesterday and told me it was a friendship."

"I couldn't tell you the truth," Sonya said apologetically. "How did you even know? How did you figure it out?"

"I'm your best friend, Sonya. I know you. I know what I'm seeing when I watch you guys with each other. There are subtle things in your expressions, in your eyes. You love her, don't you?"

"Yes," Sonya admitted. "I love her very much. It might sound stupid saying that this early, but it's true. I've never fallen for someone so quickly before. With Charlotte, it just feels right. No, it is right. She means the world to me, Mand. I hope you can understand that. I haven't meant to blank you out or distance myself from you, it's just that something very special has happened to me this past month or so."

Mandy took Sonya's hand in a reassuring manner. "I get it. Trust me, I do. And I'm happy for you both. Please, forget how I went off yesterday. If I had known this was the reason you were spending so much time with Char, I wouldn't have complained. I thought you were replacing me as your best friend, not starting a relationship."

"I would never try and replace you," Sonya said emotionally. "I love you, you know that?"

Mandy glanced out of her window, seeing Charlotte emerge from the donut bar with three drink bottles in hand. "No, you love Charlotte. And she's coming back, so you might want to change the subject."

By the time Charlotte got back into the car, there was no way for her to tell what had been talked about while she was gone. Oblivious, she handed out the drinks with a contented smile on her face.


	13. Chapter 13

Currently, Charlotte's programme was the ongoing European Championship tournament. There were no tournament matches taking place at Fastlane, and as a part of the storyline, she had been banned from ringside for Sonya's title defence against Carmella. For Charlotte, that meant she was fit to compete, yet would not appear on a pay-per-view. She couldn't remember the last time that had been the case.

What surprised her was that she was equally as disappointed by not being able to be out there with Sonya as she was about not wrestling herself. "If that's not true love, I don't know what is," Charlotte had said to her girl during a brief moment of privacy that they had been able to share in a quiet hallway, half an hour before Sonya's match.

"Ours is definitely true love," Sonya said sincerely. "I'm the happiest I've ever been. I mean that. I love you, Queen."

"I love you too, honey," Charlotte said. Glancing around to make sure there were no prying eyes, she kissed Sonya on the lips.

"You just called me honey," Sonya said after the kiss. It was plain to see how much it meant to her.

"Yes. You call me Queen, so I needed something to call you. It was either devil or honey."

Sonya giggled. "Let's stick with honey."

Now, with the moment at hand for Sonya to head to Gorilla for her match, it was time to for them to part ways for a while.

In the middle of the women's locker room, there could be no kiss for luck. Charlotte merely offered what she hoped would look like nothing more than a friendly smile and said, "Have a great match."

"Of course she will, it's with me," Carmella said with good humour as she walked past them on her way to the door.

As a ripple of laughter went around the room. Sonya gave Charlotte a parting smile, picked up her championship and followed after Carmella. "Yeah, that's the thing we're concerned about," she shot back good-naturedly, drawing more laughter.

* * *

_WWE Fastlane – February 24th 2019_

As ever, a promotional video package preceded the competitors making their entrances for the Smackdown Women's Championship match. It ended with Paige's announcement that Charlotte was going to banned from ringside at Fastlane, and Carmella voicing her opinion that the decision was fabulous.

Carmella's music was first to play. She was cheered as she entered the arena. Her entrance routine remained the same as usual, but in the past couple of weeks, there had been another side of her on show.

"With the Smackdown Women's Championship on the line, and with Sonya Deville standing across the ring, I don't think tonight is going to be a night for dance breaks," Tom Phillips said on commentary.

"No, I don't think it will," Byron Saxton agreed. "Since Sonya Deville and Charlotte Flair brutalised Mella a few weeks ago, we've seen another side of her. Aggressive, determined to get revenge, Carmella is coming for the title tonight."

"I think Mella wants to be careful of what she's about to get into," Corey Graves said. "The one out for revenge is going to be Sonya Deville, after the way her dinner date with her Queen was ruined a couple of weeks ago."

"Carmella destroyed Sonya, and a restaurant, that night," Phillips recalled.

Carmella had entered the ring, looking ready for the fight that was about to come her way. Win or lose, going up against Sonya Deville at the top of her game was not going to be easy.

The fans booed when Sonya's music began to play. Week by week, she was becoming more disliked by the WWE audience.

Walking out onto the stage in yellow and black ring attire, Sonya had fire burning in her eyes and bad intentions on her mind.

"What a sight that is," Graves said in awe as Sonya threw some shadow punches, standing at the top of the ramp. She finished off by spreading her arms wide and roaring like a woman possessed.

"And there it is," Graves continued. "The Deville inside. If Sonya can unleash it tonight, Carmella won't be heading home with the Smackdown Women's title, she'll be heading home in an ambulance."

"Ambulances don't take you home, Graves," Saxton chirped.

Sonya entered the ring and did another shadow punch routine before walking over to her corner and handing her belt over to the referee.

While the ref moved over to the middle of the ring to hold the belt up, on display for the crowd, Sonya limbered up, glaring a hole through Carmella.

On the opposite side of the ring, Carmella stretched her legs, eyes focused on Deville.

It was time for ring announcer Greg Hamilton to do his thing. "The following contest is set for one fall, and it is for the Smackdown Women's Championship!"

Carmella stepped forward slightly, her only acknowledgement that she was about to be introduced. She was desperate to get her gold back; there was going to be no moonwalking or flossing on this occasion.

"Introducing first, the challenger, from Staten Island, Carmella!"

There was a cheer in support of her, which she only acknowledged with a raise of her right hand. She wasn't about to take her eyes off Deville, knowing it was more likely than not that she would be attacked the moment she did so.

"And her opponent, from Shamong, New Jersey, she is the Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"

Sonya walked forward until she was almost nose to nose with Carmella, and a moment later, threw the first punch.

As the women launched into exchanging right hands, the referee quickly called for the bell to officially start the match.

* * *

The fact that the match had gone ten minutes, and had been fairly evenly matched, would have been a surprise to some, who may have expected the red hot Sonya to run through Carmella in a routine title defence.

Currently, it was Carmella who had the upper hand. Whipping Sonya into the corner of the ring, Carmella followed her in, and was able to athletically use the ropes to manoeuvre herself and her opponent into a sunset flip and a pinning combination.

"One!"

"Two!"

Sonya kicked out in plenty of time.

Keeping the upper hand, Carmella grabbed both of Sonya's legs, setting her up for a catapult.

Carmella executed the move. Unfortunately, after making the two count moments earlier, the referee had decided to stand in the corner. Sonya was sent flying through the air, crushing the referee against the turnbuckles.

"Oh! The referee taken out by Sonya Deville!" Phillips called.

"Inadvertently," Graves was quick to point out.

As Sonya came out of the corner, Carmella attempted to hit a superkick.

Sonya dodged the kick, leapt into the air, and delivered a vicious kick of her own to the side of Carmella's head. In the past, it had been her finishing move. These days, it was usually a precursor to the Kimura.

Ready to finish her opponent off, Sonya unleashed the Deville within. She spread her arms and roared aggressively, a wild look in her eyes.

Unusually, the fans were cheering. When they heard the devil's roar, it was often time for them to resign themselves to Sonya winning. The reason for the difference in reaction this time was that Mandy Rose had come through the crowd, and was standing behind Sonya in the ring.

"That's Mandy Rose! Sonya Deville's long time tag team partner," Phillips called.

Rose spun Deville around, kicked her in the stomach and hit the Bed of Roses. The fans erupted at Mandy turning her back on Sonya, potentially costing her the Smackdown Women's Championship in the process.

"What the heck was that?" Graves protested. "Rose attacked Deville! Why?"

"I have no idea, but the referee never saw it," Saxton said.

With Sonya knocked out in the middle of the ring, Mandy sent some choice words her way before noticing that the referee was stirring. Not wanting to get caught interfering, she bailed from the ring and headed up the entrance ramp without looking back.

Meanwhile, Carmella was crawling slowly towards Deville, with the groggy referee now back on his feet.

"This is not right!" Graves objected as Carmella was able to drape an arm over Sonya.

"One!"

"Two!"

A loud groan of disappointment came from the crowd when Sonya got a shoulder up at the last moment.

Having managed to kick out, Deville still wasn't out of the woods. Carmella was able to wrap her legs around her neck, locking in the Code of Silence.

The fans cheered again, willing Carmella on.

Screaming in pain, Sonya first attempted to prise the legs from around her throat. It wasn't going to work, the hold was locked in too tight.

"Deville's going to have to tap!" Saxton cried.

It appeared that he might be right. Sonya's hand wavered a few inches from the mat. But then she seemed to find a second wind from somewhere. Using all the strength she had, she surged forward in a crawl and was able to grasp the bottom rope.

There was another groan from the crowd. There was also frustration from Carmella, who was obliged to break the hold. After doing so, she slapped the mat hard and screeched loudly, as only she could.

"Mella needs to stay focused," Phillips said. "She's got Deville exactly where she wants her."

Sonya was still holding onto the bottom rope. Carmella grabbed both of her legs for a second time and yanked her into the middle of the ring.

Almost immediately, it became apparent that Sonya had been waiting for that exact move. With lightning fast reactions, she grabbed hold of Carmella's arm and pulled her down into the Kimura.

The furious scream that came from Sonya as she locked in the hold signalled that the match was likely over. And so it proved to be. In a matter of seconds, Carmella tapped out, drawing another scream from Sonya.

"That's it! Sonya Deville is still the champion!" Graves yelled as the bell rang and her music began to play. He was possibly the only one delighted by the result he had just announced.

"Deville retains the Smackdown Women's Championship!" Phillips confirmed.

Sonya had rushed to her feet after getting the win. She angrily snatched her title belt from the referee, and her attention turned to the stab in the back she had received from Mandy Rose. Looking in the direction of the stage, she struck the familiar pose once more and let out yet another scream.

"Deville's going after Mandy Rose!" Saxton cried.

Bailing from the ring, Sonya ran up the ramp, carrying her championship belt.

Phillips said, "I don't know if Sonya's going to catch up to Mandy, but if she does, there's going to be serious trouble."

After Sonya disappeared through the curtain to the back, Graves brought the segment to a close. "Mandy tried to cost Sonya her title, and whether it's tonight or Tuesday night, there's going to be hell to pay. The Deville inside will be unleashed!"


	14. Chapter 14

After Fastlane, Charlotte had taken Sonya to a restaurant, saying that they were going to celebrate her successful title defence by eating as much as they possibly could.

Delighted to be treated by her Queen, and excited for a rare cheat meal, Sonya had been quick to accept.

The meal had been delicious, made all the more enjoyable by the company and the conversation. However, there had been something nagging away in the back of Sonya's mind the whole time. As yet, she had not told Charlotte about the fact that Mandy had figured out they were in a relationship. While she trusted Mandy not to go blabbing the news around the locker room, Sonya knew it was only right that she told Charlotte what had happened.

Picking the right moment for the conversation was the key. After returning to their hotel room, Sonya was getting a very chilled out vibe from Charlotte. Deciding it was the right moment, Sonya joined her in lying on the bed, and kissed her gently on the lips.

"What a great night," Charlotte commented tiredly, resting a hand affectionately on Sonya's stomach. "And I didn't even wrestle. I don't know why I'm so tired."

"A lot of travel, a lot of food," Sonya said with a smile.

"And a lot of sex," Charlotte added.

Sonya's smile grew even bigger. "That too." She paused for a second, then said, "Char, there's something I need to tell you."

"Sounds serious," Charlotte said, her eyes narrowing slightly in concern.

"I don't think it will be serious, but I do need to tell you about it," Sonya said carefully. "Remember the other day when we were in the car with Mandy?"

"Making the donut video, yeah," Charlotte said cautiously, now even more confused as to where this was going. "What about it?"

"Remember when we finished, you went back in the donut bar to get drinks for us?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said, really wanting her to get to the point now.

"That was when Mandy dropped a bomb on me. She was like, 'Sonya Deville! You're dating Charlotte for real!'"

"Oh shit," Charlotte gasped, quickly sitting up. "How did she figure it out?"

Sonya also sat up, so as to maintain eye contact. "By seeing us together. I asked her the same question, and she said she's my best friend, she can always tell what I'm thinking."

"Oh my god," Charlotte cried. "This is bad. I haven't spoken to..."

"Char, Queen, it's okay," Sonya said hurriedly, taking Charlotte's hands and speaking in a reassuring tone. "Mandy won't tell anyone, I swear. I told her how important it was to us for nothing to be said, and she swore to me she would keep her lips sealed. I know you don't know her well, but I do. I trust her implicitly, and I need you to trust me in that judgement. I didn't tell you about this because I'm afraid she will gossip about us, I told you because you should know. It would have been wrong of me to keep it from you, and I'd never do that to you."

Charlotte hated the fact that someone knew about the relationship before she had told her family about it. But Sonya clearly meant what she was saying, having no doubts about Mandy's trustworthiness. In turn, Charlotte trusted Sonya just as strongly. If she said Mandy would keep her mouth shut, Charlotte believed it.

There was another problem, however. If it had only taken a few minutes in a car for Mandy to figure out they were in a real relationship, how long would it be before someone less tight-lipped made the same realisation? Not long, had to be the answer. And that was not good.

"Alright, I trust you. Of course I do," Charlotte said. "You say Mandy's word is good, I believe you. But she put two and two together so easily, someone else will too. That's what's troubling me."

Sonya sucked in a deep breath. "Yeah, I thought that too."

It dawned on Charlotte that she was going to have to come out to her family in the near future. It was something she had known she would have to do, but she had been trying to think of it as something for the future, not something that was imminent. "I'd better start thinking about telling my dad," she said faintly. "He needs to be the one I open up to first."

"I think that's a good idea," Sonya said supportively. "If you want me to come with you, I will. My advice is that we should go together."

"Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't want to do it without you there. I want him to see what we mean to each other. Besides, the moral support will be much-needed."

"I'm there for you," Sonya promised. "I'm always there for you. I love you."

Charlotte kissed her, feeling herself tingling inside. "I know you're always here, and I know you love me. But I want you to show me."

"Yes, my Queen," Sonya said obediently.

* * *

_Smackdown Live – February 26th 2019_

When the show returned from commercial after the second match of the night, Sonya's music hit. It was greeted with the usual boos.

"We're on the road to Wrestlemania, where Sonya Deville is set to meet Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women's Championship," Tom Phillips said as she walked into the arena dressed in jeans and her 'Unleash the Deville Inside' tee, with sunglasses perched on her forehead as usual.

By Sonya's side was Charlotte, dressed in a set of dark red ring attire. She looked regal as ever, but also annoyed. Sonya looked even angrier, despite the championship that remained around her waist.

"Sonya successfully defended her title at Fastlane against Carmella," Byron Saxton said. "But that doesn't tell the full story."

"No it doesn't," Corey Graves said, displeased by what he was about to recall. "During that match, Mandy Rose attacked Deville, from behind I might add, and attempted to cost her the Smackdown Women's Championship. I, for one, want to know why."

"I don't think you're the only one," Phillips said.

The two women had quickly reached the ring, and Sonya had fetched herself a microphone. As soon as her music faded, she got right down to business.

"Sunday night, I made Carmella tap out, exactly like I said I would. But during the match, Mandy Rose decided to attack me, almost costing me the match and the Smackdown Women's Championship. Mandy," she continued in an aggressive tone, "I would have torn you limb from limb backstage Sunday, you little backstabber, but you must have fled the arena before I got back there. You want to get involved in matches, Mandy? Why don't you get involved in one tonight, against me?"

It wasn't Mandy's music that played in response to the challenge. A scream filled the arena, signalling the arrival of the general manager.

"Sonya, let me remind you of something," Paige said as she walked onto the stage. "You don't make the matches around here, that's my job. So, no, you won't be facing Mandy Rose tonight. In fact, you won't be having a match at all. The one who will in action is you, Charlotte. You're competing in the Women's European Championship tournament, against Naomi. Since you're already out here, who don't we go ahead and start that match right now?"

Sonya looked extremely angry as Naomi's music hit, but there was nothing she could do to change the decision that had been made.

Discarding her microphone over the top rope in the direction of the timekeeper's area, Sonya made a show of giving Charlotte a kiss for luck while Naomi started to make her entrance.

"Love you," Sonya said under her breath, so that only Charlotte could possibly hear her over the music.

"Love you too," Charlotte whispered back, sounding thrilled to get away with saying it out in the arena.

Sonya climbed out of the ring and walked around to the side where she would be facing the hard camera.

From there, she watched the match unfold. Although she went through her kayfabe requirements of looking happy when Charlotte was winning, and not doing so when she wasn't, Sonya was working on autopilot. Inside, she was mesmerised by watching her Queen work. So beautiful, so athletic, yet also so hard-hitting when she needed to be. In Sonya's mind, there was no better female wrestler in the world. She felt incredibly blessed to be with Charlotte, and proud of her for how amazing she was in everything she did.

Luckily, Sonya's preoccupation didn't cause her to miss her crucial spot towards the end of the match.

Naomi was lining Charlotte up, plotting to finish her off. Sonya hopped up on the apron and shouted at Naomi, distracting her.

The fans were cheering, despite the interference. Remonstrating with Naomi, Sonya knew Mandy would be running down the entrance ramp. Any second now her legs would be...

Mandy whipped Sonya's legs out from under her, causing her to fall off the ring apron and smash her face on it.

With the fans cheering her on, Mandy didn't let up. As Sonya got up, Mandy punched her in the face, sending her staggering around the ring.

Deville walked around the ring steps, holding her hands over face in pain.

Following her, Mandy grabbed Sonya from behind, spun her around and attempted to whip her into the steel steps. However, Deville reversed and sent Rose crashing hard into the steel with a loud crash. The top half of the steps flew off because of the impact.

Striking her familiar pose, Sonya roared like a wild animal, the veins sticking out in her neck.

The Deville within didn't get a chance to do its work, though. Ember Moon's theme song began to play, drawing another cheer from the fans.

The number one contender for Sonya's title came jogging down the ramp, going right after her future opponent.

Deville was ready when Moon reached her, and the two women began brawling, both throwing right hands at each other at the same time.

Sonya soon found herself on the back foot, staggering away up the ramp with Ember following and continuing to hit her. They would fight to the back, allowing the audience's attention to return to the match going on in ring, just in time to see Charlotte take Naomi's head off with a Big Boot.

Victory at hand, Charlotte picked up Naomi's leg and set about locking in a Figure Four. When she dropped to the mat, locking the hold in, Naomi started screaming and thrashing around.

Flair intended to give no quarter as she sought to advance towards European Championship gold. Leaning back, she put her hands on the mat and lifted her back, bridging into the Figure Eight. At that point, the result was academic.

After struggling for another ten seconds, Naomi tapped out on the side of Charlotte's leg.

As she got released the hold and got up, celebration looked to be the last thing on Charlotte's mind. She looked furious, having just seen Sonya being attacked by two different people.

"Give me a microphone!" Charlotte yelled at the ring announcer, who hurriedly complied.

Taking in a couple of heavy breaths after the fast-paced match, Charlotte walked to stand over Naomi before delivering her simple message. "By the time Wrestlemania is over, Sonya Deville and Charlotte Flair will both be champions."

Dropping the mic, Charlotte left the ring as her music began playing again.


	15. Chapter 15

Feeling nervous about arriving at the Flair family home was a particularly weird and unpleasant experience for Charlotte. Usually, she would have been delighted to get there and see her dad, the person she was closer to than anyone else in the world.

The reason for the uneasy feeling was of course the fact that Charlotte planned to tell her father about her relationship with Sonya. So far as Ric knew, thanks to a natural assumption he would have made, Sonya was coming with Charlotte to dinner and to stay the night as a guest because they were friends and travel partners. How would he react to the news that they were a lot more than that? That was the question of the day.

If there was one small thing that had gone in Charlotte's favour, it was that Ric's wife was out of town on business. It wasn't that Charlotte disliked her – she didn't, but it was her dad she needed to see, and having the privacy to do so was ideal.

"You okay, Char?" Sonya asked as Charlotte drove slowly up the driveway to the Flair house. The driveway ran past the right end of the house, around to a garage at the rear.

"Nervous as hell," Charlotte admitted. She parked by the little gravel pathway that led to the front door and killed the engine, then looked to Sonya for reassurance.

"It'll be okay, I promise," Sonya said.

"I feel like you can't make that promise," Charlotte said reluctantly.

Sonya gave something between a grimace and a smile. "Alright, I firmly believe it will be okay. I'm here for you no matter what. I love you."

"I love you too."

Ordinarily, Charlotte would have gone in for a kiss. However, the front door of the house opened and her father stepped out, apparently having heard their arrival. There was a big smile on his face, and it raised Charlotte's spirits. The Flair family had been through a hell of a lot in her lifetime, and at no point had she ever doubted that her dad loved her very much. Surely this would be no different?

Getting out of the car, Sonya had a quick look at what she could see of the Flair house. It was impressive to say the least; much bigger than any house she had ever been in. It had two stories and a roof with multiple dormer windows, meaning there were also rooms in the attic. The front garden was huge, and surrounded by trees that gave privacy from the road.

"Charlotte, welcome home," Ric said happily, greeting his daughter first as her side of the car was closest to the house.

"Hi, dad," Charlotte beamed. "You're looking so well!"

"You know your old man," he said as they hugged. "I can take a kicking and keep on ticking."

"You sure can," Charlotte said with a laugh.

Sonya had walked around the car to greet her host. She had to admit, for someone who had been at death's door a matter of months earlier because of complications after bowel surgery, he did look in amazing shape.

Having met Ric a couple of times backstage at WWE events, Sonya was spared the awkwardness of an initial introduction. "Hi, Ric. Thanks for having me," she said warmly.

"Sonya, great to see you. You're most welcome." Ric stepped forward and gave her a peck on the cheek in greeting. It wasn't hard to see how he had been a charmer his entire life.

Charlotte had gone around to the trunk to unload the two travel cases. Sonya and Ric went around to help her.

"You're later that I thought you'd be," Ric commented.

"Yeah," Charlotte said. "The flight was on time, but there was some sort of problem getting to the gate after we landed. We must have sat there for nearly an hour."

"I hate it when that happens. But you're here now," Ric said brightly.

"We're here now," Charlotte echoed happily.

Taking their cases, Charlotte and Sonya followed Ric towards the house.

"I've got a surprise for you, Char," Ric said.

Charlotte glanced at Sonya, thinking that she had a much bigger one for him. Now was not the time, though. "Oh?" she enquired.

"I'm going to cook dinner for us."

Unable to help herself, Charlotte burst out laughing. "Dad, you're going to cook? I'm thirty two years old and I can't remember you ever cooking dinner."

Ric chuckled. "Yeah, well, Meghan has been teaching me. And the two of you are going to be my guinea pigs."

"So long as you call Vince and explain why we can't work because of food poisoning," Sonya chirped, knowing that he had a keen sense of humour.

"You're assuming the food doesn't kill you," Ric said, leading the way into the house. "I'm running behind, though, so we need to go to the store to get ingredients."

"Running behind," Charlotte scoffed, laughing at the blatant lie. "You want us to go with you because you're worried you'll buy all the wrong stuff."

"Possibly," Ric admitted with a laugh. He took Charlotte and Sonya's cases and set them at the bottom of the stairs, ready to go up later. "Would you like a drink first, or...?"

Charlotte looked at Sonya, deferring the decision.

"Why don't we hit the store now? Then we can settle down when we get back."

Plan of action decided, they were soon heading out to buy the groceries Ric needed to make his meal.

During the shopping trip, the conversation flowed comfortably. Sonya felt at ease around Ric, being appropriately welcomed like a friend of his daughter. She just hoped the welcome was still extended once the real nature of the relationship was revealed to him.

When they got back to the house, Sonya joined in helping to unload the groceries in the kitchen, which looked as big as the living room back at her Orlando apartment. She picked up on tension creeping in to Charlotte's mannerisms, knowing that the big moment was approaching. When Charlotte made eye contact, Sonya gave her an encouraging nod, the gesture unseen by Ric.

Charlotte took a long breath and closed her eyes for a second. "Dad," she ventured. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Her tone made Ric turn and look at her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Can we, uh, go sit in the living room for a minute?"

"Uh, sure, yeah," Ric said with obvious concern. Leaving a plastic bag of groceries half unpacked, he led the way out of the kitchen and into the living room.

There was a large L-shaped couch positioned opposite a massive TV, with a glass coffee table in front of it. When Charlotte sat down, Sonya took the spot beside her. Her moral support was going to be crucial in the coming conversation.

"I'm looking at serious faces," Ric observed after sitting down on the other part of the L. He leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, chin resting on his hands. "Is everything going okay at work?"

"Uh, yeah, work is fine," Charlotte began hesitantly. It felt like she had rehearsed this moment in her head a million times, yet all of it had now deserted her, leaving her feeling like she was going to have to make it all up as she went along.

"So what's up? You're not sick, are you?"

"No, I'm not sick. The thing is, dad, I've got something to tell you, and I don't know how to do it."

"You can tell me anything, Char. You're my daughter and I love you. I've always said you can call me or come home any time you need to, and I'm here for you. Haven't I always said that?"

Charlotte was clearly struggling. "Yeah, you have. I'm just going to have to cone out and say it, dad. You know how Sonya and I have been dating each other on TV? We're also dating each other, uh, for real."

The words seemed to take a moment register in Ric's head. Or maybe he was trying to decide if it was a rib, Sonya wondered. Although, with the way Charlotte was having obvious trouble opening up, it was fairly apparent that wasn't the case.

Ric looked from Charlotte to Sonya and back again. "You're dating? But you're into... I mean, you like men. You've been married twice, to men."

"I know," Charlotte said, her voice wavering as she feared a negative reaction coming.

Sonya found it hard to keep her mouth shut, but knew it was important to do so. Her input at this point wasn't going to help anything.

"I've been with men, but I've never been truly happy," Charlotte went on. "Neither of my marriages was happy, to say the least. With Sonya, I feel happy, dad. I know it's early days and all..."

"You're serious about this? Both of you? This isn't just some fling or experiment for you?"

The questions had seemed to be directed at both women, and Ric's gaze had fallen on Sonya last. Now it was her turn to speak, and to assure him that she wasn't just playing games with his daughter. It was a reassurance that he had a right to ask for. She wondered if he was aware that she was openly lesbian. She had assumed so heading into the conversation, but she didn't know it for a fact.

"Yes, absolutely we're serious," Sonya assured him respectfully. "Having come out to my parents some years ago, I know how tough this is from both Char's side and yours, Ric. I can't tell you how to take this in, but I can tell you I love your daughter very much."

"And I love Sonya just as much as she loves me," Charlotte said earnestly.

"Right," Ric said slowly, as if he was struggling to take in what he was hearing. To Charlotte's astonishment and horror, he got up to leave the room. "Thanks for telling me. I'm, uh, going to get the dinner started."

"Dad, wait," Charlotte pleaded. She attempted to get up to go after him, but Sonya put a hand on her knee, telling her not to do so.

"Let him go, Char," Sonya said.

Baffled, Charlotte couldn't understand why Sonya was so calm about what had just happened. "He walked out on the conversation," she said, feeling devastated.

Sonya took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Yes, he did. But he wasn't angry. He's processing. You just dropped a huge bomb on him, and it's a hell of a lot to take in. If this had gone badly, he'd be in here shouting right now, or kicking us out of the house. Give him some time. Trust me."

Charlotte felt tears stinging her eyes. At the same time, she had to acknowledge that Sonya knew a lot more about this than she did. If she said this was what things going okay was like, maybe she was right?"

Cuddling up to Sonya, Charlotte rested her head on her shoulder. "This is awful, Son. I feel... I can't even describe how I feel."

Sonya wrapped Charlotte up in her arms and kissed the top of her head. "I know, Queen. I know," she said soothingly. "It's going to be alright."

They sat like that on the couch for almost half an hour. Charlotte found reassurance in Sonya's love and support, and wondered how she would have gotten through if she had broken this news to her dad without her girlfriend there to support her. It would have been hell. But that, of course, was the reason that Sonya had insisted on coming.

"Charlotte, can you come in here?" Ric eventually called through from the kitchen.

Charlotte got up quickly, happy that nothing in his tone indicated that anything harsh might be about to be said.

"Go on," Sonya encouraged with a smile.

Nervously, Charlotte walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. She smelled burning as she walked into the room, and found her father scraping the contents of a pan into the trash. "What happened?" she asked.

"I think we'll order food in," Ric said with a laugh at his own culinary expense. He put the empty pan on a counter top and stepped forward, spreading his arms. "Come here."

Charlotte walked gratefully into his arms and held him tight. "I need to know what you're thinking, dad."

Ric squeezed her affectionately. "I'm thinking you're going to need to give your old man some time for this to sink in. I'm an old fashioned, tired old man. But you're my daughter, and your happiness is one of the things that matters most to me in the world."

"You are not a tired old man," Charlotte said tearfully. This time they were tears of relief.

"I'm definitely old fashioned. So give me some to let this sink in, okay?"

Charlotte pulled back slightly so that she could look him in the eyes. "Okay. I love you, dad."

"I love you too, sweetheart." Ric kissed Charlotte on the forehead, and she knew it was a moment she would remember for the rest of her life.


	16. Chapter 16

Nearly two weeks had gone by since Charlotte had come out to her father. That evening, he had appeared to be okay with the news. As okay as he could reasonably have been expected to be, at least. But since then, since telling her that he needed some time to take it all in, Charlotte had heard nothing from him.

"He'll contact you when he's ready," Sonya had repeatedly assured her. By now, those assurances were starting to wear pretty thin. Charlotte couldn't understand what was taking him so long to do whatever thinking he needed to do. She had been tempted to call Ric herself, but had convinced herself that it might not be a good idea to try and force the issue. Ordinarily, she never went any more than a few days without talking to him, and she missed him greatly.

"Your dad's calling!" Sonya called out from the living room.

Blessed with a couple of days off during the hectic build up to Wrestlemania, they were at Charlotte's house, enjoying the chance to chill out and unwind. Charlotte was in the kitchen, making coffee. She hurried towards the front room, meeting Sonya half way. Charlotte's phone was in her hand, vibrating and flashing to indicate an incoming call.

"Here," Sonya said, a big smile on her face.

"You're thinking this is good?" Charlotte asked as she took the phone.

"Absolutely, now answer it, quick!"

Charlotte slid the green phone icon across the screen to answer the call. "Hi, dad," she said brightly, hoping it didn't sound forced. The initial tone of his voice would tell her a lot about what was on his mind.

"Hey, sweetheart," Ric said. He sounded no different than any other time he called. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Really good," Charlotte replied, walking back into the kitchen while Sonya retreated to the living room to give her some privacy.

"That's great," Ric said. "Listen, I was wondering, if you're at home, if you wanted to come over tonight? Meghan is going out with your brother, so we'll have a chance to talk."

"To talk? Uh, yeah, I'm at home. So, sure, I can come over," Charlotte said, glad that she only lived a fifteen minute drive from his place. "Give me an hour to get ready."

"Sure. And bring Sonya with you, if she's there?"

That was the best thing Charlotte could have heard. It sounded a lot like her dad had managed to find acceptance of her relationship, and possibly that Sonya was going to get the 'hurt my daughter and I'll kill you' speech. Given the alternatives, Charlotte was more than happy with that. She had to be careful not to jump to conclusions, though.

"Sure thing, dad. We'll be there," Charlotte promised.

* * *

In the end, Charlotte and Sonya arrived at the Flair house in just under and hour.

"Thank you both for coming over," Ric said as he showed them in.

"I'm so happy to see you," Charlotte said as they hugged briefly.

"Thanks for having me over," Sonya said.

"Don't mention it." Ric gave her a peck on the cheek in greeting.

They walked through to the living room, where Ric offered drinks. Charlotte requested wine, needing a hit of alcohol to boost her confidence. Sonya said wine would work for her, so Ric went and fixed it for them.

"Char, can we talk in the kitchen?" Ric asked after handing out the drinks.

The request did not come as a surprise to either Charlotte or Sonya. During their discussion after his call, Sonya had said to expect exactly that, and that she wouldn't be surprised if she had a chat coming her way as well. So long as it led to Ric giving his blessing to their relationship, it was all good.

"Of course," Charlotte said. Getting up off the couch, she picked up the TV controller off the coffee table and gave it to Sonya. "Find something to watch, honey," she said.

"Will do," Sonya said, hiding a smile by sipping her wine. The use of the word honey had been quite deliberate, she was sure.

Without commenting on it, Ric went through to the kitchen, Charlotte walking close behind, carrying her glass of wine.

There was a small breakfast table in the kitchen. Ric took a seat at it, and after closing the door, Charlotte sat opposite him.

"I missed you," she offered, referring to their extended period without phone calls.

"I missed you too, Char. But I needed time to get my head around things."

"And how did that go?" she asked, feeling nervousness again.

Ric smiled. "I love you. You're my daughter. The happiness of all my kids is what matters the most to me in the world. I don't want you to ever doubt that. Having said that, I do have questions."

"I understand that," Charlotte said reasonably. "Trust me, I know this was a huge shock to hit you with. Honestly, it was a shock to me when I found myself having feelings for Sonya. When she kissed me as a part of our storyline and my heart missed a beat, it was kind of scary at first. When we made eye contact and my stomach fluttered, I didn't understand it. But dad, both of us know the reason those things happen. It's love. Love does that to a person."

"So you're sure it's love?" Ric said. "This isn't you seeing what it's like to be with a woman?"

"Absolutely not," Charlotte insisted. "I love Sonya. You know I've been married twice, and I never felt what I feel for her with either of those guys. I thought that was true love back then, but no. Now I understand what it feels like to really love someone. Sonya means the world to me. I would do anything for her, and I know she would for me. Once news of our relationship goes public, I know I'm going to get hateful comments from idiots about it. I know I'm going to be judged by some people based solely on my sexuality. I don't care, dad. I love Sonya, and nothing is going to stop me loving her. Nothing."

Ric looked a little taken aback, but in a good way, by what had turned into something of a rant, and by the depth of feeling that it had contained. Good, Charlotte thought. It had been a rant that she had needed to get off her chest.

"I was going to ask more questions," Ric said after a moment. "Now, I don't think I need to. You made it abundantly clear what Sonya means to you, and with that being the case, I'm happy for you. Really, I am. But I need to hear from Sonya as well. Two people have already hurt you deeply, Char; two people who claimed they loved you. I don't want that to happen again."

"Sonya loves me. She will have no problem convincing you of that, trust me."

Ric nodded. "If she does, and at this point I hope she does, I'll be happy to support you both. I can't pretend I totally understand it, but like I said, what I want most of all is for you to be happy."

"I know you do," Charlotte said sincerely. "Do you want me to ask Sonya to come in?"

Ric downed his glass of fruit juice – his health prevented any alcohol consumption these days. "Yeah, could you? I promise not to grill her too hard," he added with a crooked smile.

"Bull," Charlotte said with a smile and a short laugh as she got up.

Charlotte walked through to the living room, finding Sonya trying to look relaxed in front of the TV.

"You okay?" Sonya asked, quickly getting up.

"Yeah," Charlotte smiled. "I told dad exactly what you mean to me, and he took it well. He'd like to speak with you."

"Of course." Sonya kissed her girl on the lips, not letting on that she wasn't particularly looking forward to this. For Charlotte, though, it was worth it. It was more than worth it.

"Love you," Charlotte said softly.

"Love you too, Queen. Even if your dad kicks my ass." With a parting smile, Sonya headed for the kitchen.

"Hey," Sonya said openly when she walked into the kitchen. She pushed the door closed, but it didn't quite catch in the frame.

"I know this is awkward," Ric began as he gestured for Sonya to take the seat opposite him.

Sonya sat down, clasping her hands around her wine glass. "No, it's understandable that you want reassurance from me."

"I do," Ric said with a nod. "I've seen Charlotte badly hurt by two different men, physically as well as mentally by one of them. I can't sit by and let her get hurt again, in any way. Getting into a relationship with you, she's really putting herself out there in the open. She can't do that if a month from now you're going to decide this isn't for you after all."

"That's not going to happen," Sonya said, looking him right in the eye and leaving absolutely no room for doubt in her voice. "This is the real thing, Ric. I love Charlotte, and she loves me. She's told you that herself. It feels like the forever kind of love to me; the kind of love where you grow old together and share everything along the way. I want to be there for all of the best moments in her life, to enjoy them with her and to celebrate them with her. I want to be there during all of the downs that are bound to happen in life, to be her rock she can always count on. I understand and admire the fact that you want to protect her, but Ric, you have nothing to fear from me. I promise you that."

Slowly, Ric nodded, appreciating what he had heard. Over the past few minutes, he had been left in no doubt what Charlotte and Sonya meant to each other. He saw that they did love each other, there could be no doubting it. Convinced of that, who was he to stand in their way?

"Charlotte!" he called out, standing up.

It only took Charlotte a matter of seconds to enter the room. When she did, there were tears in her eyes. "Sorry. You didn't close the door properly, and I could hear what you just said, Son."

Sonya got up, but it was Ric who spoke. "I'm happy for you both. Really, I am. I can see that you love each other and how much you mean to each other, and that's good enough for me. Come here."

Ric spread his arms and Charlotte walked into them, tears flowing at her father's acceptance.

"That means you, too," Ric said to Sonya. "You're a part of the family now."

Sonya joined in the three-way embrace, tearing up herself at the fact that Charlotte was crying happy tears. "Thank you, Ric. This means so much to me."

"You're assuming being a part of this family is a good thing."

Due to the heightened emotions of the moment, all three of them laughed louder and longer than the joke merited.


	17. Chapter 17

Walking out into MetLife Stadium was an incredible moment for Sonya. Although it would be hours before fans were admitted, the empty stadium was still a truly jaw-dropping sight.

It wasn't Sonya's first time in a Wrestlemania arena, having competed on the pre-show for Wrestlemania 34. This year, it was going to be a lot different. She was on the main card, in one of the marquee matches. She was bringing a championship into the event as well. Her picture was one of those featured on enormous banners for blocks around the stadium. It dawned on her in that moment that Sonya Deville was a big deal now, and it raised goosebumps on her arms.

"Remember the days you prayed for what you have now," Sonya mutter under her breath.

Standing beside her on the gigantic stage was Charlotte, looking around the stadium in awe. "Sorry?" she asked, turning to look at her girlfriend.

"I'm thinking about how grateful I am for how well things are going in my life right now. I've got the girl of my dreams, and I'm taking the Smackdown Women's Championship into Wrestlemania. I used to come here to watch football years ago, before I even thought about applying for Tough Enough. Now here I am, hours away from performing here in front of eighty thousand people. What a job this is to have."

"This will be my fourth 'Mania. Trust me, they all leave you just as awestruck. Last year, I had the honour of being the first to beat Asuka, now this year I get to be the first winner of the Women's European title. I'm sure that will be good for getting more heat on me. Everyone can run 'Charlotte gets given everything' up the flagpole again."

"You get what you get because you deserve it," Sonya said, although her opinion was hardly unbiased. "You're the best we have in our division, and you're better than anyone on Raw."

"Flattery will get you everyone, honey. But out right now, out here, is probably not the time or place."

"No," Sonya chuckled. They were still lucky enough to be in the position where everyone they worked with believed their relationship was a thing of kayfabe only. How long that was going to last wasn't certain, but they were happy to take it while it lasted.

"Shall we go down to the ring?" Charlotte suggested. With most of the preparation work for the upcoming show already complete, there wouldn't be much of a problem with them getting in the way.

"Alright," Sonya said, starting down the enormous entrance ramp. "Crazy that in a few hours there will be so many people in here. It's pretty cool than Ember is getting her music performed live as well."

"She has a good theme for it," Charlotte said. "Unfortunately, you don't."

Sonya laughed. "I don't even have lyrics, so yeah, it wouldn't really work for me."

They made their way down the ramp, looking around and trying to take it all in. When they approached the ring, Charlotte had an idea. "We should get one of the guys to take a picture of us, with the stage in the background."

"Great idea. I already have a caption for it: By the end of tonight, you'll be looking at two champions. Hashtag Flairville."

"Perfect," Charlotte said.

Recruiting one of the crew members to take the picture was a simple task. Within moments, he was standing ready with Charlotte's phone, with a request to have them lined up perfectly with the centre of the stage. "Your way a bit, Sonya," he said.

Standing face to face, Sonya and Charlotte took half a step in the requested direction.

"Perfect," the crew member said.

To pose for the picture, Sonya kissed Charlotte lightly on the lips, feeling the fluttering sensation she always got when she did so.

"Got it," the guy announced, offering the phone back to Charlotte.

"I'm sure that'll get us into Vince's good books," Charlotte said, making out like she had only kissed Sonya for the angle they had been given.

"You're convincing about it, that's for sure," the crew member said.

At that moment, Ember Moon reached the bottom of the ramp, attracting Sonya's attention just in time before she started blushing. It was a distraction she was very grateful for.

"Taking cringe-worthy pictures for Instagram again?" Ember guessed with good humour.

Sonya laughed. "That's exactly what we were doing. How are you?"

"Really good," Ember smiled. "I wanted to come out and take a look around, then I saw you guys down here."

"Incredible, isn't it?" Charlotte said.

"I swear I had goosebumps just now," Ember said, shaking her head slightly in awe.

"You're not the only one," Sonya reported.

"I was hoping to have a word with you before we sit down to lay out the match," Ember requested of Sonya.

"I'll leave you to it," Charlotte said pleasantly.

Sonya smiled as Charlotte began walking off up the ramp. More than willing to talk with Ember, she cast a wary eye towards the busy crew members. "Shall we sit out of their way?" she suggested.

"Good idea." Ember climbed over the ringside barrier and took a seat on one of the limited edition decorative chairs that fans with the most expensive tickets would get to take home with them. Sonya's face was one of the few selected to feature there, too.

Sonya climbed over the barrier and sat beside her soon-to-be opponent. "What's on your mind?" she asked openly.

"I was thinking that since they haven't given us all that much time for the match, we're going to have to make it a bit more fast-paced than either of us might have liked."

"I hear you," Sonya said. She didn't particularly agree with the way WWE liked to stack Wrestlemania cards with matches and then have to rush through some of them to get them all into the available time. It didn't seem to make much sense to her, but she was a wrestler, not a member of the booking committee.

"So, I was hoping we could make sure the match is one that we both get something out of. I'd like us both to make the end of show highlight package if at all possible."

"With you all the way on that one," Sonya assured her. "I'm happy to hear any ideas you have. Let's put something cool together."

Appreciative of the willingness and professionalism, Ember began to put forward her ideas. Sonya added some input as she went along, and ten minutes later they had a match figured out with some spots that they hoped would be well-received.

* * *

_Wrestlemania 35 – April 7th 2019_

Limbering up behind the curtain, Sonya barely registered the entrance music that was being performed for Ember Moon in the sold out MetLife Stadium. All she would allow herself to focus on was the match. This was the biggest occasion of her career, and she damn sure intended to give it her all.

By now, Ember would be close to the ring, if not already in it. Any moment now, Sonya's music would hit and eighty thousand people would probably boo her. It was highly unlikely that she would get a New Jersey home town advantage at a multi-national event like Wrestlemania.

Sonya downed a small bottle of water, then took one last look at herself in the full length mirror that was always present in Gorilla. Thanks to the incredible work done by the WWE makeup team, and the brand new black and gold ring attire that she had bought especially for the occasion, Sonya was pleased to see that she looked like the uncompromising badass she was going out there to perform as.

The band finished playing Ember's music, receiving a loud cheer of approval from the crowd for their work. Sonya took a deep breath and said a short prayer. As she did before every match, she asked for the safety of herself and her opponent.

Sonya's music began to play. Boos briefly filled the open air stadium. Putting on the focused but vicious facial expression that typified her character, Sonya pushed her way through the curtain and walked onto the stage. No one watching would have been able to tell how much she was enjoying the moment.

Before the event got started, Sonya had received some brief instruction from Hunter Helmsley. She was to walk to the top of the entrance ramp and do one of her best shadow punching routines. As she completed it, some pyro would be set off. Just hearing that had given her goosebumps again. She hadn't gotten a live entrance music performance, but they had found a way to make a big deal of her nonetheless.

Going through the shadow punching routine, Sonya made sure to end with a flourish and one of her trademark aggressive screams. Even though she was expecting it, the loud explosion that went off on the stage behind her almost made her jump. She heard the distinctive crackling sound of more pyro going off high in the air above the stadium, not that she could see it from her point of view.

Imagining the commentary team hyping up her title reign, Sonya strode to the ring at a brisk pace, making sure to look like she was ready to murder Ember when she got down there.

Entering the ring, Sonya posed and screamed once more before her music faded out. Unfastening her belt from around her waist, she handed it over to the referee, then locked eyes with Moon. While keeping up the tough exterior, Sonya determined herself to make the most of being announced as a champion at Wrestlemania, reasoning that there was no guarantee of it ever happening again.

"The following contest is set for one fall, and it is for the Smackdown Women's Championship!" Greg Hamilton announced. "Introducing first, from Dallas, Texas, Ember Moon!"

Ember walked into the centre of the ring and gave her familiar pose, raising her hand to the side of her face.

"And her opponent, from Shamong, New Jersey, she is the Smackdown Women's Champion, Sonya Deville!"

As expected, there had not been much of a reaction to the mention of New Jersey. Even so, Sonya had goosebumps on her arms again as she stepped forward and did another shadow punching routine. She was all set for the biggest match of her life.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Sonya was struggling to her feet. Ember was up on the top rope, ready to deliver her Eclipse finishing move. They had just been given the call to go home.

With perfect timing, Ember leapt into the air so that she would meet Sonya as she staggered into position. Unfortunately for her, Sonya was able to react, avoiding the Eclipse, grabbing Moon's arm and allowing them both to fall to the mat. Somehow, in an astonishing counter, she had gone from almost taking an Eclipse to locking in her Kimura.

Sonya's counter had brought a shocked reaction from the fans. The last thing they had expected was Ember to find herself in a position to lose the match.

Screaming as she unleashed the Deville inside, Sonya wrenched in the pressure on the hold.

Luckily for Ember, she had crashed to the mat close to the ropes. Usually, the Kimura was inescapable, and victims of it were forced to tap out in a matter of moments unless they wanted a broken arm. On this occasion, Moon was able to wriggle backwards slightly and get a foot on the bottom rope, forcing a break. The fans cheered, having feared the end.

Frustrated, Sonya got to her feet, screaming at Ember to get up. She was ready to put a definitive end to the contest.

Ember rose to her feet, looking worse for wear. Jumping into the air, Sonya went for a savage kick that would have taken Moon's head off if it connected.

It became apparent that Moon had been playing possum. She was able to duck Deville's kick and deliver a superkick of her own, which connected with an audible smack.

With Sonya down again, Ember stepped through the ropes and climbed up to the top turnbuckle, preparing for the Eclipse again.

Holding her face, Sonya struggled to her feet. Ember jumped into the air, and this time connected with the Eclipse.

The crowd cheered loudly, and joined in with the count when Ember made a cover.

"One!"

"Two!"

Sonya kicked out at the last moment. She enjoyed the shocked reaction she heard. So far as she knew, she was the first person in WWE to kick out of the Eclipse.

Now it was Ember who was frustrated. She held three fingers up to the referee, disputing the count, but he was insistent that it had been only two.

Ember dragged Sonya to her feet and whipped her hard into a corner of the ring.

Keen to press home her advantage, Ember attempted a handspring elbow smash, but Sonya dodged out of the way and Moon crashed into the turnbuckles.

Sonya kicked Ember in the stomach, lifted her up into a vertical suplex position, then fell forwards, slamming Ember to the mat back first. The move was called a shouten, but now that Sonya had just debuted it, it would be called The Deville's Lair when she used it.

Sonya made a cover and hooked Ember's leg.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Sonya had won her debut Wrestlemania match, and had retained the Smackdown Women's Championship. She was overjoyed, but as ever, couldn't show it.

Jumping up to her feet, she roared in a combination of anger and celebration before snatching her title belt from the referee.

Running over to the corner of the ring, she climbed to the middle turnbuckle and roared again, holding the belt aloft. In the crowd, all she saw was disappointed faces. That was part and parcel of being a good heel, though, so it didn't diminish her moment at all.

Moments later, the lights above the ring went dark. The segment was over, and it was time to hit the showers.

What a night, Sonya thought as she climbed down from the turnbuckle and left the ring. It hadn't been the best match of her career, but it had been the best night of her career. She knew she would never forget it.

But what did the future hold? There were rumours of big changes being made by WWE in the coming days and weeks. Whether that was true, or what it would mean for her, Sonya didn't know. No matter what happened, she was looking forward to it.


	18. Chapter 18

Walking into the locker room before Smackdown, Sonya and Charlotte had no idea what to expect. The Raw and Smackdown episodes after Wrestlemania were always the craziest of the year, featuring returns, debuts and who knew what else.

One thing that could have been left as a surprise for the fans had already been revealed to the world the previous afternoon. Due to a match stipulation at Wrestlemania, Paige had been required to stand down as General Manager of Smackdown. In a short video published to Twitter on WWE's account, Vince McMahon and Lita had been shown in the Chairman's office. McMahon had announced that effective immediately, Lita was the new Smackdown General Manager. He had added the news that Paige would be joining the commentary team on Raw, with Renee Young moving to Smackdown.

With that being the case, Sonya wasn't surprised to find Renee standing in the locker room, talking to Mandy Rose.

"Hey, Renee," Charlotte said in greeting as the two champions approached their lockers.

Renee turned around and smiled in greeting. "Oh, hi, Charlotte. Sonya, how are you?"

"Really good," Sonya smiled. "Welcome to the A show," she added as a weak attempt at a joke.

"Thanks," Renee smiled. "I just found out they're changing to two person commentary teams as of tonight, so it's going to be me and Corey over here, with Cole and Paige on Raw."

"Changes, changes," Charlotte said excitedly. On Raw the previous night, in addition to a couple of NXT call ups, several Smackdown roster members had moved over to Raw in what had been branded a superstar shakeup. Becky Lynch had been the one woman to make the move, a fact that saddened Charlotte. One of her close friends was now going to be working a different schedule to her. "I wonder who we're getting in place of Becky?" she said.

"We've got Bayley," Mandy revealed. "She's already here somewhere. Not sure where she's gone."

Sonya couldn't help smiling at the news. It was impossible not to like Bayley, and she deserved a fresh start after being used poorly on Raw for a couple of years.

"Good for her," Charlotte said, equally as pleased for the likable Bayley. "Let's hope they do something with her this time. And the same for Becky. They better not kill what she's got going on right now."

"No chance," Sonya said. "They sent her right after Ronda last night. That's what everyone's been waiting to see."

"Room for a lady, ladies?" a different voice asked in an English accent. A travel case crashed down onto the bench in front of the locker beside Sonya's, making Sonya jump.

The group of friends all looked at the new arrival, speechless for a moment. Apparently, Lucy Thorne was now on Smackdown. Standing nearly six feet tall, Thorne had a background in boxing, and had been on the verge of joining UFC before she had been poached by WWE and sent to train in Florida. Now, after a couple of years in NXT, she had seemingly been moved to the main roster. Her reputation preceded her, both as a hard-hitting performer in the ring who was popular with the fans, and as a pain in the ass in the locker room who wasn't popular with her colleagues. By all accounts, Lucy didn't care all that much about the former, and not at all about the latter.

"Friendly bunch in here, aren't you? Fuck me," Lucy said sarcastically, referring to the silence that had greeted her arrival.

"Uh, hi," Sonya ventured, looking up slightly at the taller woman. Lucy's height and fairly muscular build made her similar in physical appearance to Charlotte, apart from the fact that she had dark brown hair. WWE had done their best to make her seem even more imposing in the ring thanks to the look they had opted to give her character: Black boots, pants and shirt, with body armour and leather gloves competing the outfit.

"You're on Smackdown then?" Charlotte said.

"Nah, I just thought I'd show up and see how long it would be before anyone noticed. I've got my money on three weeks. Oh, I saw Hunter on my way in here, by the way. He wants you in his office." The cutting sarcasm and the news had both been directed at Charlotte. With that, Lucy set about unpacking her things, seeming to have no interest in further chit chat with her new colleagues.

With a slight shake of her head and a glance at Sonya, Charlotte headed for the door, not wanting to keep Hunter waiting.

"Well, congrats on the call up," Renee said to Lucy.

Lucy looked at her for a moment, seemingly trying to decide if that had also been sarcasm. It appeared she found that more likely than kindness for whatever reason. Detecting no sarcasm, she merely nodded an acknowledgement and resumed unpacking her case.

"So, who are you going to be traveling with?" Mandy asked for the sake of making conversation.

"There are three of us," Lucy said without looking up. "My echo, my shadow, and me."

"You're going to travel by yourself?" Mandy asked disbelievingly, thinking that there was nothing she would rather do less.

Lucy glanced at her and raised an eyebrow slightly. "It's something we have in England called humour. But yes, if I have to, I'll travel by myself. I like my own company."

"Right," Mandy replied, giving the side eye to Sonya, who chose to say nothing.

* * *

Meanwhile, Charlotte had just entered Hunter Helmsley's office and took a seat in front of his desk. As always, she had been afforded a warm welcome. Hunter had also congratulated her on her Women's European Championship win.

"Thanks, Hunter," Charlotte said. "I'll do my best to carry it well and make sure it means something."

Hunter nodded. "I know you will." With that, he leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk, ready to move on to the reason he had summoned her to the office. "We've got a couple of NXT call ups joining Smackdown tonight."

"Yeah, Lucy Thorne already showed up," Charlotte reported. Her tone conveyed the fact that she wasn't exactly delighted about the fact.

"Problem?" Hunter enquired.

"I think everyone knows what she's like," Charlotte said carefully. "I'm certain you do. She walked in without a polite or pleasant word to say to anyone and started being sarcastic when anyone spoke to her."

"Yes, she can have a bit of an attitude," Hunter agreed. "You'll find her professional to work with in the ring or when laying out matches, but she can be difficult to speak to on a personal level. That's actually the reason I had you come in. You're my leader in that locker room, Charlotte. I want you to take the new girls under your wing, so to speak. Make sure they settle in okay, and do what you can to get Lucy to interact with the group."

Charlotte's eyes widened slightly. "I appreciate you considering me a leader, but how am I supposed to do that? I've spent a couple of minutes talking to Lucy and it's already obvious to me she's not going to be interested in being a part of the group."

"I want you to give her more than a couple of minutes. We see all kinds of characters in this business, Charlotte, and we can't write someone off like that. If that had been the case, I don't know how many of the greatest names in our business would have had their asses kicked out of the door before they got a chance to make it big. Hell, I might have even been one of them at one time. Like I said, I want you to mentor these girls. I understand you and Sonya travel together. Maybe you could have them join you?"

The last thing Charlotte wanted was two other people traveling with her and Sonya, but at the same time she realised the importance of being asked to take this on. Being considered the locker room leader by management was no small feat or responsibility. For that reason, she felt like she couldn't really say no. "You keep mentioning two people," she said instead. "Who is the other one?"

"Of course, sorry," Hunter said, seeming baffled for a second that he hadn't already provided that information. "Valentina Ferreira is the other call up."

"Woah," Charlotte said instinctively. She felt the need to quickly justify the reaction. "I mean, she looks like some talent, but it's kind of… early."

Valentina had only been on NXT for about a year, so far as Charlotte recalled. The Mexican native was a babyface with a high flying, technical style. She portrayed an easy going, friendly character, who could nonetheless give as much as she got in the ring. It wasn't Valentina's ability that Charlotte had concerns about, it was her lack of experience. Charlotte guessed she could only be twenty four at most, and with only a year in NXT, putting her on the main roster already seemed like a big jump.

"I understand why would say that," Hunter allowed. "But Val has been wrestling for a lot of years. She was experienced before she came to us. We're delighted with what we've seen of her, and we felt we were short of babyfaces on Smackdown. That's why we've brought in Lucy and Valentina, and Bayley is coming over also, to replace Becky."

"Yeah, I heard that," Charlotte smiled. "I haven't seen her yet tonight, but I'm glad she's here. But back to Valentina, you want me to mentor her as well?"

"Yes, I do. Again, make sure she settles in okay. Make sure she integrates with the group. And if she needs any help with anything, make sure you're there for her. She's quite shy, so see if you can bring her out of her shell a bit."

Charlotte managed a laugh. "So you want me to bring Val out of her shell and put Lucy in it?"

Hunter smiled, appreciating the humour. "Yeah, something like that."

"Alright, I'll do it," Charlotte agreed. "On one condition, though."

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Which is?"

"You tell Lucy about traveling with us. I'm not going to have an argument with her about it. Tell her she's traveling with us, and remind her to tone down her attitude."

Hunter nodded. "Done. I'll speak to her in a bit."

"Okay, thanks, Hunter." Even as she said it, Charlotte thought that on this occasion, he ought to have been the one thanking her. Still, it was the professional thing to have said.

"Sure. I'll be taking a closer interest in the Smackdown women's division from now on, so let's take it to the next level together."

Charlotte nodded as she got up to leave. On her way out of the office, she wondered what that parting comment was supposed to mean. Had Hunter been dropping a hint that he was now booking the women's division? That was the impression she had. If so, she wouldn't be complaining about it, that was for sure.

Someone who probably would feel like complaining was Sonya, when she found out the news that she was going to have two brand new travel companions. So much for the days where they had been able to travel when they wanted, how they wanted, and kiss and cuddle whenever they felt like it.

Walking back into the locker room, Charlotte saw that Lucy Thorne was now not in the room, Bayley was back in, and Valentina Ferreira had arrived. Typically, Bayley was talking to the new arrival, who even at first glance looked daunted by her new surroundings.

Valentina had already changed into her ring attire, consisting of a simple sports bra and shirt combination, this one maroon in colour. Her character's trademark was to always have a flannel shirt tied around her waist, apart from when she was actually wrestling of course. During her entrances, she would also wear a brightly coloured duster cardigan.

Charlotte decided that her first course of action should be to break the news to Sonya. "I've got bad news or bad news," she said as she approached her girlfriend, who was sitting on the bench in front of her locker. Charlotte sat down next to her.

"Oh. I guess I'll go for the bad news then," Sonya said dryly.

"Hunter wants me to mentor Valentina and Lucy."

"Christ," Sonya muttered. "I guess the last part of that was the bad news. Val seems nice. She introduced herself and shook hands when she came in."

"Yep," Charlotte said. "It's the other bad news you're really not going to like. Hunter managed to get me to agree to let them travel with us."

To Charlotte's surprise, Sonya laughed. "Come on, Char, you've got to admit that's funny. I'm surprised Vince doesn't want to put cameras in the car. What a group that's going to be."

"I thought you'd be pissed off."

Sonya gave a philosophical shrug. "Where would that get anyone? I understand why you felt obliged to say yes to Hunter when he asked you, so it is what it is. Besides, who better than us to get to know Lucy?"

"You want to get to know her?" Charlotte asked, now even more surprised.

"Human behaviour interests me. I stood there and said nothing while you and Mand were talking to her before. She's a curious one for sure. Often, people that act that standoffish from others are doing it as a defence mechanism of some kind. I get the impression Lucy's never had any friends, doesn't know how to make them, and is used to living without them."

Charlotte was intrigued. "I guess that makes sense, and yeah, you could be right. Hunter is going to speak to Lucy and tell her she's traveling with us. I told him I wasn't having an argument with her about it."

Sonya chuckled. "Why don't you mentor Valentina, and I'll take on Lucy? It feels weird to say that, since I'm pretty sure she's a year or two older than me."

"Girl, you've got yourself a deal," Charlotte said, only too happy to snap her hand off. "Just don't tell Hunter about it. And don't worry about the age thing. It's experience that matters, and you've got much more than Lucy has."

"As if I would tell Hunter," Sonya said.

Charlotte smiled. "I know you wouldn't. I'd better go introduce myself to Valentina." She got up and walked over to the Mexican soon-to-be debutant, who was talking to Bayley in Spanish.

"Here's Charlotte," Bayley said in English, with a smile and an introductory hand gesture.

Valentina turned around and smiled shyly. "Hello, Charlotte," she said pleasantly in accented English as she offered her hand. "Call me Val."

"Nice to meet you, Val," Charlotte said, accepting the handshake. "If you need somewhere to change, there's room next to Sonya and I."

Although Valentina had already found herself a locker, she obviously appreciated the offer. "Yes, thank you," she said, stepping over to retrieve her things.

Lucy Thorne walked back into the locker room at that moment, and went back to her locker just as Charlotte also went back over there.

"Lucy, could you move your stuff down a space, please? Valentina is coming in here next to Sonya."

Charlotte had pretty much expected to be told to fuck off, but that wasn't what happened.

"Yes, boss," Lucy said with more than a hint of sarcasm, but she did start moving her things as requested. It showed that while she liked to use sarcasm often, she wasn't out to be argumentative on her first night on the main roster.

Valentina brought her case and her gear over, thanking both Charlotte and Lucy multiple times for giving her the locker.

"Sure thing," Charlotte thing said easily. "Anything you need, anything I can help you with, all you have to do is ask."

"I appreciate it," Val said sincerely.

Charlotte nodded. "Who are you planning to travel with?"

"I was thinking about asking Bayley. I haven't done it yet, though. Do you think she would be okay with it?"

"I don't know. But if you'd like, you're more than welcome to travel with Sonya and I."

"Really? Thank you, that would be great," Val said, obviously relieved to have one weight off her shoulders.

"What's your opinion on donuts?" Sonya asked, making it perfectly clear what the required answer was.

"I love donuts," Valentina said with a laugh, her nerves receding quickly.

"Then we're going to get along just fine," Sonya said, offering and receiving a high five.

"Okay then," Charlotte said. "Now that's sorted out, I guess it's time to find out what we're doing out there tonight."


	19. Chapter 19

_Smackdown Live – April 9th 2018_

After the commercial break that followed the first match of the night, Sonya's music played. The energetic post-Wrestlemania crowd, consisting largely of British fans, booed her loudly.

"Yes! What a moment this is!" Corey Graves exclaimed on commentary as Sonya and Charlotte walked out into the arena, both looking incredible despite being dressed casually in their WWE merchandise shirts. The most striking thing was that they were both wearing championship gold around their waists.

"Wrestlemania was undoubtedly a success for Flairville," Renee Young said. "Charlotte Flair became the first ever Women's European Champion, and Sonya Deville retained the Smackdown Women's Championship."

Sonya and Charlotte stood side by side at the top of the entrance ramp. Posing, they looked like exactly what they were: the two women who were dominating Smackdown.

"Never say Flairville again, Renee," Graves said. "Anyway, at Wrestlemania, Ember Moon gave it her all against Sonya, but still came up short. Since capturing the title back in December, Deville has never even looked like losing it. The question at this point, I think, ought to be can anyone take it from her?"

"It certainly won't be easy," Renee admitted. "Sonya has elevated herself to the very top of the women's division, and it's going to take something special to knock her off that perch."

Walking with the kind of swagger that only success could bring, Sonya and Charlotte had made their way to the ring. With a look of contempt for the crowd on her face, Sonya walked over and fetched a microphone. With that done, she joined Charlotte in the middle of the ring, where they posed again, facing the hard camera.

Sonya's music faded out, being replaced by another chorus of boos. Slowly, she raised her microphone to speak. "Point proven," she said, slowly and emphatically, receiving more boos. "At Wrestlemania, Charlotte won the Women's European Championship, as she guaranteed. And I kicked Ember Moon's ass before dropping her with The Deville's Lair and pinning her right in the middle of the ring to retain my title. And yes, the Smackdown Women's Championship is my title. The rest of the women back there in that locker room know it, too. I mean, look at Becky Lynch. She ran off to Raw because she knew she had no chance of beating me."

"What nonsense," Renee scoffed. "Becky Lynch was traded to Raw. We hope to find out who has made the jump from Raw to replace her at some point tonight.

"You see," Sonya went on, "I've proven by now that it doesn't matter who steps up to me, they're going to get a merciless beating and crawl back to whatever hole they crawled out from. Because Sonya Deville…"

Lucy Thorne's music hit, instantly recognisable to almost everyone in the arena thanks to her time on NXT. The crowd leapt to their feet, roaring their approval of the surprise debut.

For a few moments, the music played with no sign of Lucy, but then she walked slowly out onto the stage, carrying herself just the way she on NXT, like the biggest, baddest bitch on the show. Her entrance received another roar of approval.

"It's Lucy Thorne!" Graves yelled. "The former NXT Women's Champion!"

"Listen to this place!" Renee cried. "The roof has just come off the Barclays Center!"

The production team got a shot of someone holding up an English flag with Lucy's T logo printed on it. They had obviously correctly predicted that Thorne would make her main roster debut.

The shot changed to show Sonya and Charlotte, looking uneasily at each other. Neither of them were pleased by the interruption, but they plainly didn't relish a confrontation with Lucy, either.

Lucy walked down the aisle like she had owned it for the last ten years and stepped into the ring. Showing not even a hint of intimidation at the two women who faced her, she stepped right up to Sonya. Standing taller than the champion, Lucy's looked down at her for a long moment, their noses almost touching. The body armour she was wearing somehow made her look even bigger and more intimidating.

Thorne's music faded out, leaving the arena full with noise from the cheering fans. Lucy snatched Sonya's microphone out of her hand. "You're standing out here talking about how no one on Smackdown has a chance of beating you for the Smackdown Women's Championship," she said to Sonya, still standing face to face with her. "I'm here to tell you right to your face, I'm on Smackdown now, and I can definitely beat you for it."

"The challenge has been laid down!" Graves cried over another loud cheer from the fans.

"Thorne wants Deville!" Renee exclaimed. "Sonya looks a lot less sure of herself now."

"What do you say, Sonya?" Lucy demanded. "Are you really a devil, or are you a coward?"

"Oh man," Graves said.

Sonya carefully took the microphone back from Lucy to respond to the challenge. "Lucy, something tells me you're not all that smart."

While Sonya and Lucy had been exchanging words, Charlotte had slowly moved around the stand side on to them. On cue, she smashed a forearm into the side of Thorne's head, knocking her down.

As soon as Lucy hit the mat, Charlotte and Sonya were on her like a pack of hyenas, kicking and punching her, trying their best to do as much damage as they could, as quickly as they could.

"Flair and Deville are attacking Lucy Thorne!" Graves cried. "You've got to admit, Lucy had that coming. You don't get in the faces of Charlotte and Sonya unless you're very brave, or very dumb."

Thorne was being absolutely savaged by the two heels, who were incensed by the way she had brazenly confronted Sonya.

Charlotte hauled Lucy to her feet and held her up so that Sonya could brutally kick her in the head. The fans booed furiously as Lucy collapsed to the mat.

Lita's music began to play, sending the fans over the edge again. There was a shot of the crowd, with everyone getting to their feet again and cheering.

"Wait a minute!" Graves yelled. "That music can mean only one thing!"

"It is, it's her!" Renee screamed.

"That's Lita's music!" Graves exclaimed. "The new Smackdown General Manager! Is Lita here?"

Indeed she was. The new boss walked out onto the stage, looking a lot less than pleased with what she was seeing in the ring. Wearing a denim jacket over a black t-shirt, she certainly didn't look like a businesswoman.

"That's enough of that! Let go of her right now!" Lita ordered Sonya, who was dragging Lucy back up again.

Showing contempt for the new GM, Sonya complied by throwing Lucy through the ropes like a piece of trash, sending her crashing to the floor.

"You ladies want to throw your weight around tonight?" Lita asked heatedly. "Well, that's good, because as the new General Manager of Smackdown, I'm going to let you do exactly that. Charlotte, you're going to defend the Women's European Championship, against Mandy Rose!"

Now that Mandy was a face character, that announcement drew a cheer.

"As for you, Sonya," Lita went on. "You want to talk about mercilessly beating anyone who challenges you? We'll see about that, because in tonight's main event, you will defend the Smackdown Women's Championship. I'm going to go back there now and find you an opponent. So if I was you? I'd go get ready."

Lita turned to leave, but Sonya decided that she had to have the last word.

"Who do you think you are, Lita? Huh? Who are you to show up here like anyone respects you? I don't respect you at all."

"Oh, is that a fact?" Lita asked theatrically, now looking down at the ring again. "If you don't respect me, you're probably not going to respect this, either. There is now going to be a special guest referee in tonight's main event, and her name is Ember Moon!"

With the crowd cheering again, Lita's music played again and she walked off the stage. In the ring, Sonya and Charlotte raged at each other about what had just been announced.

"Both Charlotte and Sonya will defend their titles tonight, and Deville doesn't even know who her opponent will be," Renee said.

"Who gave Lita this job?" Graves objected. "How can you have a champion prepare for a match when they don't know who it's against? And why is Ember Moon the referee? What was Mr McMahon thinking when he appointed Lita?"

Sonya definitely agreed with him. The Deville inside was close to being unleashed. Face red with anger, she repeatedly kicked the bottom rope in anger.

"Whoever the challenger is going to be, I'm not sure I'd want to be in their position," Renee said. "Deville looks like she's going to snap at any moment."

* * *

For the main event of the night, Sonya and Charlotte once again came to the ring side by side. They were both wearing championship gold, as they had been at the start of the night, Charlotte having defeated Mandy earlier in the show.

Ember Moon was already in the ring, wearing a referee shirt over her ring attire. She didn't look particularly thrilled to be there. It didn't take much to figure out that she would have preferred to be the one going for the title.

There had been no confirmation from Lita regarding who Sonya's opponent was going to be, and the champion looked to be in a vile mood as a result. There was no posing or kissing on this occasion, all Sonya had on her mind was dismembering whoever came out to face her.

When Sonya entered the ring and her music faded out, the moment was at hand to find out who Lita had selected. The entire crowd seemed to be standing, looking towards the big screen. A 'Lucy Thorne' chant went up, the fans voicing their opinion as to who they wanted it to be.

As the chant began to die, Valentina Ferreira's music hit. The reaction from the fans was one of surprise more than delight. No one had anticipated Val getting a call up, let alone a title match on her debut.

The popular young star rushed out onto the stage, loving the moment even more than the fans were. She went to each end of the stage, delighting in the cheers she received.

In the ring, Sonya's demeanour had quickly changed. The boiling anger was receding, and she now looked like a great white shark eyeing up a particularly juicy-looking seal.

"You've got this," Charlotte could be seen saying to her. Putting an arm around Sonya's shoulders, Charlotte gave her a brief, loving squeeze before retreating to ringside, where she would have the best seat in the house to watch the destruction.

With the commentary team hyping up her arrival, Valentina made her way to the ring, stepped through the ropes, and removed her duster cardigan. She then removed the flannel shirt that had been tied around her waist, twirled it above her head and threw it at Sonya in a gesture that the fans cheered their approval of.

While the crowd loved the show of disrespect, it wasn't the smartest thing Valentina had ever done. Incensed, Sonya roared like a wild beast and charged the much smaller woman. Valentina was only five feet three, and Sonya ran over her like a train.

It was the start of one of the most vicious, relentless ass kickings Smackdown had ever seen. Ignoring any instruction from Ember Moon, Sonya beat Valentina half to death, both inside and out of the ring, while being careful not to do quite enough to get herself disqualified.

Eventually, Ember reached the point where she had seen enough. Sonya was choking Val in the corner of the ring. When Ember's count reached four, she grabbed hold of Sonya and forcibly dragged her out of the corner.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sonya yelled, pushing Ember hard in the chest.

Ember didn't answer the question. She pushed Sonya back, equally as hard. But what she hadn't noticed was Charlotte entering the ring.

Sprinting across the ring, Charlotte delivered a Big Boot to the side of Ember's head, knocking her clean out.

"Great. Now we have no referee," Renee said.

"Ember Moon deserved that. A referee shouldn't put their hands on a competitor like that."

"Pick her up and finish her off," Charlotte said loudly to Sonya, pointing at Valentina, who was lying face down on the mat in the corner.

In a deliberate manner, Sonya walked over and dragged Val to her feet and set her up for a vertical suplex. It was the starting position for her new The Deville's Lair finisher.

Lucy Thorne's music hit. For the second time that night, it sent the fans into meltdown.

"Wait! Lucy Thorne! That's Lucy Thorne's music!" Renee yelled.

"Thorne was beaten down by Deville and Flair earlier tonight!" Graves reminded everyone.

Sonya had tossed Valentina aside and was ready to fight Lucy. Charlotte was equally ready. Standing side by side, they faced the stage, waiting for the attack to come.

Little did they know, Lucy had already climbed over the ringside barricade by the timekeeper's corner, and was now rushing the ring.

Charlotte realised Lucy was coming at her only in enough time to turn around and catch an exceptionally stiff clothesline, knocking her down.

As Lucy went after Sonya, knocking her down and proceeding to batter her with hard, fast-paced stomps, the fans were going crazy, loving every moment of it.

Regaining her feet, Charlotte ran at Lucy, trying to hit another Big Boot.

Thorne saw the move coming and ducked it.

After failing to connect, Charlotte turned around, only to be scooped up onto Lucy's right shoulder, in position to receive her sitout piledriver finishing move called Thorne in the Side.

Lucy hitting the move drew another cheer. She was able to get back up in time to position herself behind Sonya when the champion groggily made it back to her feet.

"No! Someone get her out of the ring!" Graves cried as Sonya was scooped up onto Lucy's shoulder.

"My god, what a pildedriver!" Renee exclaimed as the move was delivered.

Everyone in the ring apart from Lucy Thorne now seemed to be out cold. She took a step towards the ropes, making to leave, but then she noticed the dishevelled remains of Valentina still lying in the corner.

The noise rose again in the arena as people figured out what Lucy was thinking.

Lucy grabbed Valentina by the arm and started dragging her across the ring.

"Lucy Thorne has got Valentina Ferreira. She's putting her on top of Sonya Deville!" Renee called.

Ember had just started to recover, and was able to crawl over and make the count.

"One!"

"Two!"

"The title's on the line!" Graves yelled.

"Three!"

"Valentina's the champion!" Renee cried. "Valentina Ferreira is the Smackdown Women's Champion! Lucy Thorne just helped her win the title!"

The crowd erupted. Happy with her handiwork, Lucy sent a few choice words in Sonya's direction before leaving the ring and walking up the ramp.

Moments later, Charlotte was the first to recover from the assault. Realising what had gone down, she frantically got Sonya back up and they ran after Lucy, although it was much too late for that.

"Flair and Deville going after Lucy Thorne, but that's not the story here," Renee said.

Still almost unconscious, Valentina was being helped up by Ember Moon. Val had at least been able to grasp her newly-won championship in her right hand.

"Valentina Ferreira is the Smackdown Women's Champion?" Graves shrieked in disbelief.

Ring announcer Greg Hamilton provided the confirmation. "Your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Valentina Ferreira!"

"This is the biggest shock in the history of Smackdown," Renee said, bringing the show to a close. "My God. What is Sonya Deville going to do now?"


	20. Chapter 20

Standing in the corner of their hotel's gym, Sonya and Charlotte refilled their drink bottles from a water cooler. They had both worked up a good sweat, and were looking forward to hitting the showers. But first, they had to take a moment to have a refreshing drink.

"I wouldn't want to catch one of those," Charlotte said with humour. She was referring to the punches that Lucy Thorne was throwing at a nearby punch bag. Each one connected with a loud whack. It was noticeable that Lucy wasn't wearing boxing gloves either, she merely had her hands wrapped.

"That must hurt her hands after a while," Charlotte said.

"It's actually good for toughening the hands and arm muscles," Sonya said. With her MMA background, she had more knowledge about that kind of thing than Charlotte, who had been a gymnast before joining WWE.

"If you're going to stand there gawping, you could at least come and hold the bag," Lucy said, stopping for a moment of rest.

Remembering her deal with Charlotte that she would be the one to try and mentor Lucy while Charlotte took Valentina Ferreira under her wing, Sonya looked at her girlfriend and said, "I'll do it."

Charlotte took a long hit from her drinks bottle and nodded. "Alright. Shower time for me."

Sonya couldn't remark on how much she wanted a repeat of the previous morning, when they'd had sex in their hotel room's shower. In any event, the gym would hardly have been the place for that. "See you in a bit," was all she could say, parting ways with a smile, since a kiss was out of the question. Secrecy was extremely frustrating sometimes.

"Those are some hard punches you're throwing," Sonya said to Lucy as she took hold of the punch bag.

"Used to be a boxer," Lucy said simply, going right back to work, grunting slightly with the effort of each punch she threw. Sweat soaked her face and dripped from her nose, giving an indication of how long she had been at it.

The response hadn't been delivered in the friendliest of tones, but Sonya took the positive that she had at least found something to get Lucy talking. If her instinct about Lucy's attitude being a defence mechanism was right, then getting her talking about something, anything, was a small step towards breaking that barrier down and getting to know the person hiding behind it. "So how did you end up in WWE?" she ventured.

Lucy thundered a right hand into the bag. "We here to talk or train?"

"Both," Sonya said, putting some firmness in her voice. "I asked how you ended up in WWE."

"I was close to joining UFC when WWE approached me. I don't know who had scouted me or why, but they wanted to offer me a trial down in Florida. I decided there was nothing to lose by going, so I went. They liked what they saw and offered me a contract. Now can we train?"

Lucy went back to working the bag while Sonya took in the response and decided what her next question was going to be. "You must be happy with the decision to come here, now that you're on the main roster?"

"Sure, I enjoy the wrestling. That crowd reaction when I came out last night was something else. I just don't like all the backstage shit."

"Backstage shit?" Sonya asked, unsure what the comment was supposed to mean.

"Being in a locker room with all those other girls. I soon learned how it is around here when I joined NXT. I was over here in a new country, trying to learn a new craft and no one gave a fuck. No one took any time to work with me or anything unless they were told to, so I decided bollocks to them all, if I had to learn everything from the coaches, that's what I would do."

Sonya thought about that for a moment while Lucy continued punching the bag. She realised that Lucy probably hadn't even tried to look at it from anyone else's point of view. Everyone who had been on development contracts would have shown up feeling nervous and unsure of themselves, and Lucy had been the tallest, least approachable, most abrupt and intimidating girl in the locker room. It was only natural that the others had given her a wide berth. But Lucy had taken it as a personal slight, and was clearly bitter about it.

"You're not the most approachable person," Sonya said as diplomatically as possible.

"I wonder why?" Lucy fired back confrontationally.

Sonya saw that in Lucy's mind, the problem clearly lay with everyone else, not her. Sonya wasn't particularly surprised by that. It fitted right in with what she expected of someone with a personality like Lucy's. She had the 'I'm always right and everyone else is always wrong unless I say otherwise' kind of attitude. It would be a challenge to get Lucy to change her ways, but it was a challenge that Sonya was up for. "Well, you've got me, Char and Val to travel with now," she offered.

Looking less than impressed by the prospect, Lucy started unwrapping her hands and walking in the direction of the gym's exit. "I think that's enough training," she said over her shoulder.

Smiling to herself, Sonya followed Lucy to the locker room. As they entered, Charlotte was just emerging from her quick shower, body wrapped in a towel. Lucy said nothing to her on her way to her locker, while Sonya greeted her with a smile.

"How did that go?" Charlotte asked quietly when she and Sonya were standing by their lockers, a fair distance away from Lucy. There were other women in the room chatting away, so there was no chance of their new traveling partner overhearing them.

"I'm starting to get a handle on her. It's pretty much how I described to you the other day. She's got no idea how to make friends, and she resents people for not being friendly towards her despite the fact she's not friendly to them."

"That's actually quite sad when you think about it," Charlotte said sympathetically. "It must be a lonely way to live."

"Yeah, well, we'll work on it," Sonya said with a smile. "I'd better get in the shower. Is Val meeting us downstairs?"

Charlotte nodded. "She said to text her ten minutes before we're ready to leave."

Sonya chuckled to herself. "Should be an interesting trip."

* * *

With four people and four sets of luggage to transport, it had been necessary to hire a people carrier for the job. While they waited for their two new companions to arrive in the hotel's parking garage, Sonya and Charlotte lowered the third row of seats to give them enough storage space in the back.

"Good morning," Valentina said, timing her arrival perfectly as Sonya and Charlotte finished preparing the car.

"Morning, champ," Sonya said cheerfully to the woman she had dropped her title to the previous night, wanting to make it perfectly clear that there were no hard feelings.

"I still can't believe it," Val said, shaking her head. "I was blown away to get called up, and then they make me champion on my first night. Thank you again for being so good about it."

"Of course," Sonya replied. She stood aside so that Valentina could load her travel case into the car.

"We're going to alternate the driving," Charlotte said. "It's the only fair way to do it."

"Sure. I'll go first, if you like?" Val offered.

"No, I'm up first," Charlotte said. "I just wanted to let you know what the deal was."

Lucy walked into the parking garage, looking grumpy as she pulled her travel case along behind her. "Just so you know, I'm only doing this because Hunter told me to," she announced as she approached the group.

Finding it hard not to smile at Lucy's manner, Charlotte walked around to the driver's door and got into the car as Sonya assured Lucy that they were aware of the situation.

"Whether you want to travel with us or not, you're doing your share of the driving," Sonya added.

"Fine," Lucy grumbled. She put her case into the back of the car and walked around to get in without another word.

"Is she going to be like that all the time? She kind of scares me," Val said quietly to Sonya just before they got in the car.

"We'll get her talking," Sonya promised. "Before long, we'll all be the best of friends."

Valentina obviously doubted that, but she joined Lucy in the back of the car.

Moments later, Charlotte was pulling the car out onto the street. They were underway on their first road trip.

"So, Val, how did you end up in NXT?" Charlotte asked, using the rear view mirror to briefly make eye contact.

"I've lived in America for a few years now. Once I decided I wanted to be a professional wrestler, WWE was where I wanted to end up. I figured my best chance of making that happen was to move here and work as many independent bookings as I could get, hoping that someday I would get an opportunity. Eventually, I got a trial, and I did so well that day. It felt like the best I had ever performed, and at such a crucial moment. I'll never forget how happy I was when I left the Performance Center afterwards, and shortly after that I was offered a developmental contract."

"What a lovely story," Sonya smiled.

"I love hearing things like that," Charlotte said.

Lucy sat next to Val, browsing the internet on her phone, giving off vibes that she had absolutely no intention of joining in the conversation.

Sonya told her story of how she'd had a few MMA fights before deciding to try of for WWE by applying to appear on Tough Enough, an application that had been successful.

"Yes, I remember seeing you on there," Val said. "You came out on that show too, right?"

"I sure did," Sonya said. "I told Triple H that I wasn't married yet, but I had a girlfriend. At that point, I honestly thought my girlfriend and I would get married. But when I got called up to the main roster, she ended it with me because she wasn't interested in being in a relationship with someone who wasn't going to be there."

Even though she had heard the story before, it still made Charlotte's blood boil that Sonya had been treated in such a disgusting manner, even if Charlotte was now the one ultimately benefitting from it.

"That is awful," Valentina said, truly horrified that someone could do that to someone they supposedly loved.

Lucy said nothing, but Sonya saw in the mirror that she looked up from her phone for a moment, looking like she might add her voice to the chorus. But she didn't speak.

"So, uh, what's the craziest or stupidest thing you've ever done?" Val asked, wanting to change the subject to something more light-hearted if possible.

"I invited everyone in my volleyball team to a party at my house one night when my parents were out," Charlotte said, laughing at the memory.

"How many people showed up?" Sonya asked.

Charlotte laughed again. "I have no idea. I invited the people I invited, then they invited others. Before I knew what was going on, the house was full of people, the garden was full, the pool was full. We had dad's music system blasting out, there was more beer around the place than we could ever have gotten through. All off a sudden someone came up to me and asked, 'Who drives a silver Benz?'"

"Oh god. Your dad was back home?" Sonya guessed.

"Yep," Charlotte chuckled. "Half the people jumped over the fences and ran before he got in the house. Needless to say, my mom and dad were pissed off."

Everyone laughed, even Lucy, slightly.

"What about you, Val?" Charlotte asked. "Tell us the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"I went scuba diving once."

Lucy put her phone down and looked at Val as if she was dumb. "What's supposed to be stupid about that?"

"I can't swim," Val announced.

Sonya and Charlotte roared with laughter. It took Lucy a moment, but she couldn't stop herself joining in.

"How do you dive without being able to swim?" Lucy asked after a moment.

"Badly," Val replied deadpan, and everyone laughed again.

"Seriously though," Lucy said. "How did you get back to the top if you can't swim?"

"I managed. The fins make it easier, I guess."

"Suba diving without being able to swim. You've got me beat," Charlotte conceded with another laugh.

"Alright, Lucy, your turn," Sonya said, turning in her seat to look at the woman sitting behind her.

Lucy seem surprised for a second that she had been asked to participate. "Uh, I set fire to the cricket pitch at my school one time."

Everyone laughed once more.

"You set fire to a cricket pitch? Why?" Charlotte asked, carefully watching the traffic while joining in with the fun.

"I had a row with the coach. He said he was going to punish me by taking me out of the team for a game. I was so pissed off, I decided if I wasn't going to play, no one else was either. So, I waited until after school, walked out to the cricket pitch, put all my cricket kit in the middle of the pitch and set fire to it. It ruined the pitch, and I never played cricket again."

It wasn't quite the kind of funny story people had been hoping for, but they laughed anyway, at the fact that Lucy had been brazen enough to do that.

Sonya felt glad that Lucy was talking with the group now. Step one accomplished, she thought. Maybe traveling with her wouldn't be a problem after all?


	21. Chapter 21

For the past several days, things had been going fairly well between the group of four traveling partners. The shyness that Hunter had warned Charlotte to expect from Valentina hadn't really come to fruition. Although at times it had been apparent that she was making a conscious effort to involve herself in conversation, she had gotten involved, and over time had seemed more relaxed.

Lucy had also started to interact with the group more often. She could be temperamental to say the least, but Sonya felt like she was able to make an educated guess as to why. "I think she has social anxiety," she had said to Charlotte one night in a locker room when Lucy hadn't been around. "We see her as being standoffish, abrupt and rude. But from her point of view, she'll be feeling like no one understands her, no one truly wants to know her, and she'll generally feel awkward around people."

Trying her best to understand what that would be like for the person experiencing it, Charlotte had sympathy for Lucy. "So you're saying it's about us meeting each other somewhere in the middle?" she had asked.

"Yeah," Sonya had said. "Over time, we'll get there. I like her sense of humour, and you can't help laughing at her sarcasm from time to time."

"And Val is an absolute sweetheart," Charlotte had added. "If I'm not careful, I'll end up not regretting that we don't have travel time to ourselves anymore."

Sonya hadn't gone any further down that road because she would have ended up yearning to kiss her Queen right there in the locker room.

Today, though, it was Lucy's turn to drive the car, and she had been in a foul mood all morning. Between snapping at everyone in the car and raging at other drivers, she was well on her way to getting under everyone's skin. Sitting in the front passenger seat, Valentina seemed to be intimidated by the angry woman beside her, and hadn't said anything for at least half an hour.

Seeing a sign for a gas station flash by, Sonya decided to speak up from the back. "Why don't we stop for gas and we can have a break for ten minutes?"

"We don't need gas," Lucy replied. "And we've been making slow progress as it is with all of these fucking idiots in the way."

"Let's stop anyway," Sonya insisted. "I think we could all use a bit of a break."

"Fine," Lucy snapped.

A couple of minutes later, she was pulling the car into the gas station as requested. "Fucking typical," she grumbled, seeing that all of the pumps were already occupied. She pulled up behind one of the cars to wait.

Just as Lucy parked, the person in the car she had pulled up behind began backing up to leave.

"She hasn't seen us," Val said.

Lucy leaned on the horn to alert the other driver, but incredibly the car kept coming backwards until it bumped into the front of the rental people carrier with the four wrestlers inside.

"Great," Charlotte said sarcastically, happy at least that the impact had been light enough to probably not do much damage.

Lucy was already getting out of the car, having totally lost her temper. The driver of the other car, an overweight middle aged woman, was also getting out of her vehicle.

"What the fuck?" Lucy demanded aggressively.

"You weren't there when I started backing up," the woman said, making it sound like an accusation of fault on Lucy's behalf.

"I was parked before you even moved, you stupid fat cow!" Lucy yelled at her. "And you must be deaf, too, since I was blasting my horn at you for a good five seconds!"

Sonya, Charlotte and Val all got out of the car, wanting to calm Lucy down and resolve the situation before things got out of hand.

"Who are you calling fat, you fucking bitch?" the other driver shouted, starting to walk in Lucy's direction.

Lucy met her halfway. Standing almost six feet tall, she was half a foot taller than the other woman. "Get the fuck out of my face before I fill you in," Lucy threatened.

Before things could get physical, Charlotte and Sonya rushed over to separate them.

While that was happening, Val crouched down to look at the damage to the vehicles. There was barely a mark on the people carrier, while a taillight had been broken on the other car. "There's no damage on our car," she called out to the other driver, who has being led away by Charlotte. "It was your fault, so why don't you just go and we'll say no more about it?"

"Alright, after that bitch apologises for calling me fat," the woman shouted, angrier with Lucy than about the accident.

Lucy however, was still livid about the way the woman had confronted her. "Why would I apologise for the truth, you fat, ugly cunt?"

Wanting to get the confrontation over with as soon as possible, Sonya took Lucy's arm and tried to lead her back to the car. "Come on, we're leaving," she said forcefully.

To everyone's surprise, Lucy whipped her arm free of Sonya's grasp and pushed her so hard that she fell on her ass. "Never touch me, you fucking bitch!" Lucy yelled, going red in the face.

That was way too much for Charlotte. She wasn't going to put up with her girl being pushed over and insulted, particularly when she had done nothing wrong. "Right, that's it," she said angrily, walking back over to the car as Sonya got up off the floor. "We're out of here, and you're not coming," she said, pointing at Lucy.

"What do you mean I'm not coming?"

Charlotte reached the car and stood in the open driver's doorway. The keys were still in the car. "I mean you're not traveling with us again, ever, starting now. Make your own way to the fucking arena."

Apparently resigned to the accident being her fault, the fat woman had taken the opportunity to get in her car and take off while the attention wasn't on her. As her car pulled away, Sonya walked around the people carrier to get back in. "Char, we can't leave her here. How's she going to make it in time for the show?"

"I don't care," Charlotte said angrily. She pointed at Lucy. "You never put your hands on Sonya, Val, or anyone else who works for WWE like that again, or you'll answer to me."

"Wait a minute," Lucy said, shocked. She seemed not to be able to move from where she was standing, dumbfounded that Charlotte was going to leave her behind.

Getting back into the car, Valentina was in tears at how nasty the whole situation had gotten. Sonya got in and closed her door. Lastly, Charlotte got in and slammed her door. She backed the car up so that she could leave without driving through the pumping area, then burned rubber as she pulled away.

Lucy stood there watching the car leave, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her case was in the car, and her money was in her case. All she had was her cell phone in her pocket. She felt betrayed by her so-called friends. How could Charlotte leave her like that? And how could the others go along with it?

In a daze, Lucy wandered into the gas station's store, not even knowing why she was going in there. She had no money to buy anything anyway. Wandering blankly around the store, looking at the items on sale without really looking at them, her anger faded and it slowly dawned on her that Charlotte wasn't the one in the wrong. She was right, pushing Sonya over had been going way too far.

"I fucked up properly this time," Lucy muttered, knowing that she owed all three of her friends a serious and heartfelt apology if she was going to be accepted back into the group. Being accepted back into the group was what she wanted. Over the past couple of days, she had started to get past her natural awkwardness around people and had been starting to enjoy her new travel arrangements. Now all of that could be ruined, she realised.

Not only was being kicked out of the group bad enough, the news of it happening was likely to get back to Hunter Helmsley and Vince McMahon, which would end up landing her in even more hot water. After all, it had been Hunter's idea to set the arrangement up in the first place.

The first priority had to be getting to the arena before the call time for the show, and the only way to do that with just a cell phone on hand was to get an Uber ride that would probably take two hours and cost a small fortune. Charlotte's lesson was going to be an expensive one as well as a profound one.

* * *

"Maybe we should go back for her?" Sonya asked Charlotte. By now they were a couple of miles away from the gas station.

"No way," Charlotte said. "She pushed you over and abused you. I don't care what kind of anxiety issues she has, I'm not standing for that. I meant what I said, she's not traveling with us again."

It was clear that Lucy wasn't the only one who needed some time to cool off. Sonya greatly appreciated Charlotte going in to bat for her, and she totally understood the depth of feeling involved. If Lucy had treated Charlotte that way, Sonya was sure she would have been just as furious. Equally, though, she didn't want Lucy to be thrown out of the group over what had happened. She couldn't help thinking that the initial mistake had been hers, in taking hold of Lucy's arm while she was already worked up. People with social anxiety didn't like their personal space invaded, and they certainly didn't like to be touched in that kind of way.

Deciding to say nothing more on the subject for now, Sonya resolved herself to trying her best to get it worked out when Lucy showed up at the arena. She hoped that Charlotte wouldn't stay as angry as she currently was for long, and that once calmer heads prevailed, she would want reconciliation in order to keep the group together.

* * *

Lucy managed to get to the arena for that night's event before the designated call time, arriving about half an hour after Charlotte, Sonya and Valentina.

Feeling sheepish about what had gone on earlier, Val had barely said a word since the incident, and had taken it upon herself to bring Lucy's case into the locker room for her.

There was never anything sheepish about Lucy Thorne, but she didn't look angry when she walked into the locker room. She walked straight up to the group and said, "I need to speak to the three of you in private."

Having already picked up on the fact that something must have happened with Lucy, Mandy Rose encouraged the other women to leave the locker room for a while and give the four women involved the privacy they needed. The request to leave for a short time wasn't all that unusual, so no one objected. It took them a minute or so to file out of the room.

"This had better be good," Charlotte said to Lucy once the door had closed behind Lana, who had been the last to leave. The choice of words showed that while Charlotte was still a long way from happy with what had happened, she was willing to speak to Lucy about it. Or, rather, to let Lucy try and make amends.

"Guys, can we all just get along, please?" Valentina asked despairingly. "The last few days have been good. I don't want all this drama. It's enough pressure being called up and given the title without having to deal with this. I am so stressed out right now."

No one had expected Val to speak up, and her words had an effect on everyone, especially Lucy, who uncharacteristically put a comforting arm around the small woman's shoulders. "I'm sorry. This is on me. I was in a vile mood from the moment I got up today and I don't know why. But that's not something I should be taking out on you guys, and I should not have pushed you over, Sonya."

"I realise I probably trigger you by grabbing your arm in that situation, so I'm sorry too," Sonya said graciously.

"You also called her a bitch," Charlotte said to Lucy.

"I'm sorry for that too," Lucy said sincerely. "You're not a bitch. You guys have been good to me. I want what Val just said, for us all to get along. Can we do that?"

"I think we can," Sonya said positively.

"Me too," Val said, standing with her arm around Lucy's waist in a touching show of solidarity.

"Char?" Sonya asked.

Charlotte relented. She had wanted to teach Lucy a lesson about her behaviour, and the lesson seemed to have been learned. "Yeah, we can do that," she said in a conciliatory manner.

Stepping forward, Sonya joined in the embrace with Val and Lucy.

Charlotte joined them and said, "We're an odd bunch of friends, aren't we?"

"We are," Val chuckled.

"Guys?" Lucy said. "No offense, but I don't want to hug you again."

Everyone laughed, and that drew a line under the day's negative events. At the end of it all, it had actually helped to bring them closer together.


	22. Chapter 22

_Smackdown Live – April 16th 2019_

Before the show went live in the arena, there was a video package to recap the events surrounding the Smackdown Women's Championship on the previous week's episode. It showed Lucy Thorne's debut appearance, interrupting the promo being given by Sonya and Charlotte. It briefly covered the beat down that had been inflicted on Lucy before moving on to the main event of the night, where Valentina Ferreira had made her debut. The last part of the package showed Lucy Thorne's second appearance of the night, where she had hit Thorne in the Side on both Charlotte and Sonya before putting Val on top of Sonya for special referee Ember Moon to count a pinfall that shocked the world. The package ended with Greg Hamilton's ring announcement: "Your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Valentina Ferreira!"

A camera shot panned across the arena, with the fans cheering in anticipation of the start of the show.

"Welcome, everyone, to Smackdown Live. I'm Renee Young, alongside Corey Graves at ringside. Corey, we're coming off one of the biggest shocks in Smackdown history. Valentina Ferreira is the Smackdown Women's Champion."

Just as Renee finished speaking, Valentina's music began to play. The fans gave the new champion a warm reception.

"And here she comes," Graves said as Val entered the arena. She was wearing one of her usual duster cardigans, closed at the front. There was no sign of her title belt, but there was a humble smile on her face. "Valentina's the champion, but there's no way Sonya Deville is going to take this lying down. I had the chance to speak to her earlier today, and I can tell you that Sonya blames Valentina, she blames Lita, she blames Ember Moon, and most of all she blames Lucy Thorne. What happened last week was an absolute farce. Everyone who saw it knows that."

"As if Sonya hasn't had Charlotte Flair interfering in her matches whenever it suited her," Renee scoffed.

Valentina stepped through the ropes into the ring and opened her cardigan to reveal the Smackdown Women's Championship around her waist. Another cheer went up, and Renee laughed, enjoying the moment.

Val walked over and fetched a microphone, beaming the whole time. "Dreams do come true!" she pronounced when her music faded out, receiving another cheer. "I knew last Tuesday was going to be the best night of my life when I got a call from Lita on Monday afternoon, telling me to show up for Smackdown because she wanted to sign me. Making it to WWE had been a goal of mine for many years, and now I had achieved it. I was ecstatic. But then it got even better. Lita decided to have Sonya Deville defend her title, and picked me as the opponent. Thanks to Lucy Thorne, I went on to shock the world and become the Smackdown Women's Champion."

"Thanks to Lucy Thorne," Graves emphasised over the top of another cheer of approval.

Valentina said, "As the champion, the stage is now set for me to defend the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash, presumably against Sonya Deville."

Lucy Thorne's music hit a moment later, bringing the fans to their feet and causing Valentina to turn and face the stage. Although there was no particular reason why Lucy would attack her, Val still looked unnerved by her impending arrival.

"Now things are going to get interesting. That's not Sonya Deville," Graves said Lucy walked slowly onto the stage, looking as imposing as ever.

"No it isn't," Renee said. "It's Lucy Thorne, the woman who dropped Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville with the Thorne in the Side last week, effectively handing the championship victory to Valentina."

Lucy made her way to the ring. When she entered, she walked past Valentina, glaring at her. Despite the assist from the previous week, it was clear that Thorne wasn't interested in making friends. That fact became even more apparent when she snatched a microphone from the timekeeper and launched into what she had to say, speaking in the forceful manner than fans of NXT were used to hearing from her.

"Val, I was standing there in the back listening very carefully when you just said you're set to defend the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash against Sonya Deville. I hear what you're saying, and quite frankly it sounds like the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Lucy finished that sentence by stepping up to Valentina in a menacing manner. "You seem to be forgetting who it was who basically won that title for you. If anyone's going to get the first chance to face you for that title, it should be me."

"You make a good point," Valentina admitted, taking a diplomatic step backwards so that Lucy wasn't in her personal space. "I'm happy to defend my title against anyone. As far as I'm concerned, Lucy, if you want the first shot, it's yours."

The fans cheered. Of the two matches that had been proposed so far, they favoured that one.

Sonya's music began to play, immediately turning the cheers into loud boos. Looking seriously pissed off, the former champion walked quickly across the stage and started down the entrance ramp, with Charlotte by her side.

"I don't know what the two of you are trying to do out here," Sonya raged, stopping at the bottom of the ramp. "But between you, you stole my championship from me last Tuesday night, and I want it back!" She had screamed the final five words, the Deville inside close to being unleashed.

As the only one who could calm Sonya, Charlotte put a hand on her shoulder and took the microphone. "Valentina, you owe Sonya a rematch," she said, making it sound like an order, not a request. "And you owe it to her tonight. It's either that or we come in that ring and take both of you apart."

"Charlotte, this doesn't concern you," Lucy fired back. "You've got your own little championship belt right there, so I suggest you get out of here before I come out there, take it from you, and beat your head in with it."

Before things could escalate further, Lita's music played. The popular General Manager's arrival was cheered, but Lita didn't have time to acknowledge reaction. "No one's going to be beating anyone's heads in unless I decide it can happen in a match," she said from the stage. "All four are you are out here arguing about who's going to face Valentina at Backlash. Will it be Lucy Thorne? Will it be Sonya Deville? Or will it be Ember Moon, who I also feel merits another opportunity? Honestly, I've had the situation with the Smackdown Women's Championship on my mind a lot since last week. I have decided that what we're going to do is have ourselves a fatal four way match."

Sonya was beside herself at that news. She took the microphone back from Charlotte and raged at Lita. "No! I was screwed out of my title and I am owed a rematch! You'd better give it to me, Lita, or I'll..."

"I am giving it to you," Lita cut in, unimpressed with the threatening tone that Sonya had used. "As everyone knows by now, there are no longer mandatory rematch clauses. You are owed nothing, Sonya. But, after the way the match ended last week, I do believe you should be granted an opportunity to regain the Smackdown Women's Championship. Therefore, at Backlash we will see Valentina Ferreira take on Lucy Thorne, Ember Moon and Sonya Deville."

The match wasn't good enough for Sonya. Enraged, she kicked the barricade that kept the fans separated from the action as hard as she could.

"Since you're obviously so keen to fight, though," Lita went on. "We're going to have a tag team match tonight. Sonya, Charlotte, it will be the two of you teaming up to take on Valentina Ferreira and Lucy Thorne."

Sonya and Charlotte turned to face the ring, ready to send some threats in the direction of their newly-announced opponents. They had not expected what was coming their way.

Before the show, upon finding out what was going to happen in the segment, Valentina had floated an idea that had been kicked up the chain to Vince McMahon himself, who had reportedly loved it, according to the agent who had come back to the girls with a decision.

Upon hearing Lita's announcement of the tag team match, Lucy had grabbed hold of Val with both hands, taking the champion completely by surprise. Lucy picked Val up off her feet, ran towards the ropes and launched her over the top rope, sailing through the air all the way to the bottom of the entrance ramp where she landed on Sonya and Charlotte, taking them both out.

On commentary, Corey Graves was laughing uncontrollably while the fans laughed and cheered at the incredible moment they had just witnessed. "That's the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life," he managed to say.

"I'm not sure if that means Lucy approves of her new partner or not?" Renee said, giggling.

A slow motion replay appeared on the screen, showing Lucy grabbing Val, one hand on her shoulder and the other holding the waistband of her shorts, and lifting her into the air. As Lucy began running towards the ropes, a look of wide-eyed surprise appeared on Val's face.

"Look how far Lucy threw Valentina," Graves said, still laughing.

The replay ended, with Lucy's music now playing. She left the ring, walking past the pile of three bodies lying at the bottom of the ramp. Looking down at them, she shook her head as if finding the sight pitiful.

The lights in the arena went out, signalling the end of the segment. Lucy continued up the ramp and walked through the curtain to Gorilla. She was surprised to find several people laughing, Vince McMahon among them. She had never seen Vince laugh before.

"That was brilliant. I loved it," Vince said to Lucy. "The dynamic we could give you and Valentina is amazing. We're going to have to make you a team sooner rather than later."


	23. Chapter 23

The final live event of the week had happened to be in Orlando, Florida. Given that was where Sonya's apartment was, it had would have made absolutely no sense for her and Charlotte to fly out to North Carolina to spend the weekend at Charlotte's house, which had become their usual routine.

Sonya felt embarrassed to have Charlotte stay at her apartment for the first time. It was small, wasn't in great shape, and wasn't in a particularly nice part of the city. She felt sure Charlotte, with the opulent splendour she had been raised in and the gorgeous home she now owned, had never stayed anywhere like it before. But then, part of Sonya felt bad for feeling like Charlotte would consider the apartment to be below her standards. Privileged upbringing notwithstanding, there was not a snobbish bone in Charlotte's body.

"You'll have to excuse the stage of the place," Sonya said as they wheeled their travel cases up to the front door. "I've been meaning to buy myself somewhere better for a while now. Since we're not home often, I just never bothered to get around to it, you know? I can't even remember what kind of state I left it in last time I was here. With only me living here, I wasn't exactly great on staying on top of the cleaning."

"Honey, you don't have to talk like that," Charlotte said gently. "I get that when you moved here, you didn't have much money. Besides, I've been in the same situation myself when I was in college. My mom helped me decorate my place, but it still wasn't great. You should have seen me trying to get used to cleaning and cooking for myself. Looking back, it was embarrassing how little I knew."

Sonya looked at her and smiled. "Well, you are a Queen."

"Shush," Charlotte laughed. "You only get to call me Queen in a good way."

"I'll remember that for later," Sonya promised, unlocking the door to her apartment and leading the way in. "That's a relief," she commented as they walked past the small kitchen and into the living area.

"What is?" Charlotte asked. Looking around, she couldn't see what Sonya had been so worried about. Sure, the décor was a little tired and could have done with updating, and the furniture was basic. But for an apartment that had been purchased by someone moving a long way from home, without much money, what else would someone expect?

"Apparently I tidied up before I left last time. One good thing about being back, I can pack some different clothes. I've been living on the same couple of case loads for weeks."

"You have not," Charlotte laughed. "You've bought at least that much stuff new since we've been together. You've got your own wardrobe at my place."

"Be quiet, you're ruining the narrative I'm trying to push," Sonya said with a grin. Leaving her case near the kitchen, she walked over and flopped down onto the living area's single couch. It had a low wooden table in front of it. A flat screen TV was fixed to the wall opposite the couch.

"Not going to show me around?" Charlotte said as she sat down next to her girl.

"Not much to see, babe. There's a kitchen there, and bedroom and a bathroom through there," Sonya said, pointing in the appropriate directions. "Right now, I'm perfectly happy right here." Cosying up to Charlotte, Sonya kissed her on the lips.

They passionately made out for the next several minutes, loving the taste of each other and the feeling of their lips and tongues touching each other. Charlotte had absolutely no doubt that she was with the love of her life. On instinct, she made a decision. Sonya wanted somewhere better to live. Charlotte already had somewhere better, and they could share it together.

"What would you say if I suggested moving in with me?" Charlotte asked cautiously.

Sonya's eyes widened in surprise. "I'd ask if you were serious."

"I am serious," Charlotte said without hesitation. "You're wanting, as you've put it, a nicer place to live. Let's be honest, you've practically been living at my place anyway. This is more a case of making it official. I love you, and I want us to live together, Son."

Looking into the eyes of her Queen, Sonya knew that her decision was made. How could she possibly have said no? "It's impulsive, but I trust it," she said. "I love you, and I'd love to move in with you."

Charlotte beamed in delight. "I'm so excited. You make me the happiest person in the world, you know that?"

"No I don't," Sonya said, shaking her head. "It's not possible, because you make me the happiest person in the world."

The exchange would have been cringe-worthy if anyone else had been able to hear it. But right then, in that moment, the two lovers meant every word. They went back to making out, now in celebration of the plan that were now in place.

"I could sell this place," Sonya said a while later, when they stopped for breath.

"Or rent it," Charlotte added. "What matters most is that we're going to be together."

"Definitely," Sonya gasped as Charlotte nibbled at the side of her neck. "If you're whisking me away, the least you can do is help me get this place ready for sale."

"Honey, make love to me and I'll agree to anything you ask," Charlotte promised, massaging one of Sonya's breasts as best she could through her t-shirt and bra.

"Is that a longstanding promise, or does it only apply today?" Sonya breathed, feeling herself getting wet and warm in anticipation. She slowly lay down on the couch, and Charlotte moved on top of her.

"Today only," Charlotte said, now nibbling at Sonya's ear.

"Then I'll make a list."

"Not now you won't." Charlotte slipped a hand down the front of Sonya's pants and inserted a couple of fingers into her wet entrance. "Right now, you're going to do something for me."

"What's that?" Sonya gasped as she shuddered in pleasure at the sensations that were being created for her.

"Come," Charlotte instructed.

"Yes, my Queen," Sonya cried, closing her eyes and groaning in pleasure.

Within a matter of minutes, Sonya had complied with the request, soaking Charlotte's fingers and her own underwear with her fluid. "Oh my god," she gasped, breathing heavily after her orgasm.

"We're here for two days, so there's plenty more where that came from," Charlotte promised.

Sonya said nothing until she had gotten her breath back. Once she had, she wriggled out from under Charlotte, stood up and said, "Sounds good to me. Did I show you the bedroom?"

Charlotte offered her hand for Sonya to help her up. "No, but your Queen would like to see it."

"Then my Queen shall see it." Sonya helped Charlotte to her feet and led the way to the bedroom, having no intention of leaving it again for the rest of the day unless she absolutely had to.

* * *

The next morning, Sonya thought back to the previous afternoon's conversation while she made coffee. With passions not currently running so high, she wondered if Charlotte really wanted her to move in to her house, or if it had been said in the heat of the moment.

Sonya had no doubt in her mind that she would love to move in with her Queen. She was totally in love, to the point where she didn't want to spend any time away from Charlotte if she could help it. For Sonya, moving in together sounded like a dream come true. But before she could seriously start making plans, she had to be totally sure that it was what Charlotte wanted.

"Morning, beautiful," Charlotte said, slipping her arms around Sonya's waist from behind.

Sonya had been so lost in her thoughts that she jumped in surprise. "Oh, hello, Queen. I'm making coffee for us."

"I can see that," Charlotte said softly, kissing Sonya's cheek.

Sonya turned around to face Charlotte. She found the Queen breath-taking even first thing in the morning, with her nightwear on, hair a mess and no make up. She was a true natural beauty. "Babe, I need to ask you something."

"Anything," Charlotte replied easily.

"What you said yesterday about moving in? I'd love to, but I feel like I need to ask if you're certain about it. I mean, it's your home. You bought it. I wouldn't..."

"I love you, and I want it to be a home for both of us," Charlotte cut in. "There is no doubt in my mind, Sonya."

"Then there's none in mine, either. I'd be delighted to move in with you."

Charlotte smiled, then leaned in for a kiss. "I'm so happy right now."

"Me too, Queen," Sonya assured her.

They kissed for a moment before Sonya resumed making the coffee. Drinks in hand, they walked through to the living area and sat down on the couch.

"So, the question is what would you do with this place?" Charlotte asked.

"Honestly, I don't see the point of keeping it. It would need work before I'd be able to rent it, and I wouldn't get much for it anyway. I might as well sell it. What I could do is what I planned to do in time anyway: Get rid of this place and buy a better house in the area. I'd still move to Charlotte with you, but we'd have a second home in Orlando as well. I think that would be a good idea because if either of us got injured, god forbid, it would be much easier to live down here while we went through our recovery process at the Performance Center."

Charlotte sipped her coffee and nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. It could also be a summer vacation home."

"Vacation, what's that?" Sonya chuckled, referring to WWE's demanding schedule.

Charlotte laughed. "Right. But seriously, I think a second home slash vacation home in Florida would be amazing. What if we looked in Tampa or maybe Daytona Beach? We would be only a short drive from Orlando, and the near to the coast for beaches and stuff." She paused for a second and laughed. "Listen to me spending your money for you."

"It's fine," Sonya smiled. "We're talking about building a life together. This is the kind of thing we should be discussing. I think we should concentrate on things in order, though. First I need to move out of here and in with you, then I can look at putting this place on the market."

"Sounds like a plan. Once the apartment is empty, I'll help you get it ready to be put up for sale."

"Really? Are you sure?" Sonya asked. Although she had jokingly made that demand the day before, she couldn't actually picture her Queen getting involved in DIY.

"Absolutely. I decorated the place I had before where I am now. I can't pretend I'm amazing at it, but I can paint walls and hang new curtains. I think it'll be fun for us to do it together."

Being careful not to spill her coffee, Sonya leaned in for a kiss. "I think we have a plan. We can make a start when we get back from the UK tour next week."


	24. Chapter 24

Twice a year, once in April and once in November, WWE brought the Raw and Smackdown rosters to the UK. Ahead of time, Sonya, Charlotte and Valentina had known it would be a special tour for Lucy, traveling back to her own country.

What had surprised the trio was an invite to stay at the Thorne family house one night, when the show they were working was at an arena only an hour away. Although Lucy had warned that because her father, mother and sister were all doctors they would likely be working, the visit was still something to look forward to. Lucy had said there were enough bedrooms for all of them, so the house had to be something special.

Before the visit, there was a live event to work. It was the third event in as many nights. One of them had been a Smackdown episode at the O2 arena in London, on which the narrative of an unlikely partnership between Lucy and Valentina had continued to be teased when Lucy had come out to save Valentina and Ember Moon from a beat down at the hands of Flairville following a tag team match.

For every live event on the tour, the same tag team match had been booked every night: Lucy and Valentina against Sonya and Charlotte.

"I feel bad for Ember," Valentina said to her three friends. They were sitting in the catering area backstage before the live event, with the intent of putting that night's tag match together. While the booking was the same, they couldn't put on the same match each night. The only constant would be the face team winning. Faces always won at live events, to ensure that the fans had a great time.

"I know what you mean," Charlotte said. "They put Ember in the fatal four way with you guys, then Vince got high on the Lucy and Val team and he's putting more effort into that. Nothing is being built up for my European title, either."

"It will be," Lucy said, short and to the point as was her style.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will too," Sonya said. "But back to tonight. Lucy, Monday night and again last night on Smackdown, the fans were going crazy for you."

"We're in England. These are my people," Lucy said, showing genuine passion for something for once. Her patriotism could not be doubted, and her English fans loved her for it.

"I know," Sonya said patiently. She was getting used to the fact that Lucy wasn't the easiest of people to put ideas across to. "I'm thinking that since we're not on TV, you might play up to the crowd a bit. You know, really get them fired up. It would be great for them."

"I don't do that," Lucy said simply.

"We know," Charlotte said patiently. She and Sonya were at the point now where they could sometimes tell what the other was thinking. This was one such occasion. "It's not like you suddenly have to come out like Val, running around the place. With your manner in the ring, you could get a reaction just by looking at the crowd in the right way at the right time. That's the unique charisma you have."

Lucy shrugged slightly, taking the compliment at face value. "Alright, what are you suggesting?"

* * *

Standing in the heel team's corner of the ring with Charlotte, Sonya kept character while internally delighting at the ovation Valentina received from the sold out crowd of three thousand fans when she came out to the ring. It was followed by the loudest pop of the night so far when Lucy's music played. The roof nearly came off the small arena, and the fans kept up the noise level while their fellow countrywoman walked slowly to the ring without acknowledging them in any way, as was usual.

The reason Sonya took such pleasure in the responses her two opponents and friends received was that she knew it was partially because of how well she and Charlotte were working lately that Val and Lucy were getting over. It took top quality performances from both the heels and the babyfaces to make the magic happen.

Getting into the ring, Lucy didn't bother to acknowledge her partner, either. The current deal was that Val acted like she wanted to befriend and team with Lucy, while Lucy was indifferent at best, and seemed to care only about getting her hands on Flair and Deville at any given opportunity.

Valentina proudly handed her title belt to the referee so that he could pass it out of the ring for safe keeping. With that done, her focus became talking strategy. "Lucy, I'll start the match, okay?" she said, loud enough for some of the crowd to hear. "Trust me, I've got this."

Looking down at her, Lucy barely registered a reaction. She simply turned and walked to their corner, stepping through the ropes. Some of the fans laughed at the interaction between the tall, unemotional woman and her small, bubbly partner. It was a dynamic that people definitely liked, which explained why every crowd they performed in front of urged Lucy to accept the team.

As was almost always the case, the heel team soon began to dominate. Working like the well oiled machine they had become in the ring, Flairville isolated and picked apart Valentina, with Lucy stuck out on the apron, unable to legally do anything about it.

As the minutes wore on, Valentina was grinded down more and more by the relentless Sonya and Charlotte. Eventually, the only way to stop Val losing to a Natural Selection was for Lucy to rush into the ring and stamp on Charlotte's back to break up the count.

With the fans cheering loudly merely because Lucy had done something, Sonya got into the ring to confront her. Before she could do anything, Lucy landed an uppercut that took Sonya clean off her feet.

Turning around, Lucy saw Charlotte getting up near to the ropes on the entrance side of the ring. Jogging across the ring, Lucy clotheslined Charlotte over the top rope to the floor.

Turning around again, Lucy found Sonya running towards her. Reacting quickly, she ducked down and used Sonya's momentum to send her out of the ring with a back body drop. Sonya landed on Charlotte, taking both of them out.

Roughed up from the ass kicking she had taken, Valentina unsteadily got to her feet. It took her a moment to realise that Sonya and Charlotte were outside the ring.

As Val looked at the two opponents, the fans suddenly realised what might possibly happen. Everyone could remember the way Lucy had thrown her out of the ring a few weeks earlier; there had been a multitude of memes and amusing tweets featuring gifs of the incident.

"Throw me at them!" Val shouted at Lucy, receiving a loud cheer of approval.

Lucy just stood there, looking at Valentina as if she was an idiot.

Not to be deterred, Val repeated her suggestion, this time by running towards the ropes and making a throwing gesture.

The noise from the crowd got even louder, trying to encourage Lucy to do what was being asked of her.

Lucy turned her head slightly to look at the fans, as if asking them if they wanted her to throw Val out of the ring. It was a small gesture, but it was probably the first time Lucy had acknowledged a crowd directly. It brought the people on that side of the ring to their feet, roaring her on.

Val ran back to Lucy, remonstrating with her to hurry up. Sonya and Charlotte were back on their feet.

With a swiftness that surprised everyone, Lucy grabbed Val with one hand on her shoulder and the other holding the waistband of her shorts, and picked her up off her feet.

As Lucy ran towards the ropes, the fans increased the volume of their cheering, finishing with a flourish when she launched Val over the top rope, flying through the air and taking out Sonya and Charlotte like a bowling ball hitting a couple of remaining pins.

With the crowd cheering in delight, Lucy emphatically rubbed her gloved hands together in a gesture that indicated the trash had been dealt with.

Lying outside on the floor with Charlotte next to her and Valentina sprawled on top of her, Sonya found it hard not to smile. Moments like that were what live events were all about.

* * *

After the show, Lucy had driven the group to the house where she had been raised, where her parents and sister still lived. Upon checking her messages, she had confirmed that all three of the doctors were at work as expected. Lucy and her guests would have the place to themselves.

"Three doctors all at the same hospital, all called Thorne?" Charlotte had asked. "That must get awkward."

"I bet it does," Lucy had said with a rare chuckle.

Sensing that they were nearing their destination in one of the city of Leicester's richest suburbs, Sonya tried to get a look at the houses they were cruising past. It wasn't easy as most of them were set back significant distances from the road, and some were also hidden behind walls or hedgerows. Nonetheless, Sonya soon came to the conclusion that this was the kind of area Charlotte would feel accustomed to.

Shortly, they reached the Thorne house. Lucy drove up the driveway and parked near the front door. She got out and unlocked the front door while the others unloaded the luggage.

Some of the lights had been left on inside the house, affording the visitors the chance to have a look at the place.

"Lovely home, Lucy," Valentina commented in something close to awe.

"Beats the crap hole I've got in Orlando," Lucy replied. "Can't wait to get something better."

Sonya smiled, comparing what she had just heard to her own situation.

Lucy led them inside and briefly showed them how the rooms on the ground floor were laid out, so that they could find their way around if they needed to.

Sonya took in the living room, dining room, office, and a kitchen which had another, smaller dining table. All of the rooms were almost clinically clean, and furnished in a manner that made them look like they had been lifted straight from the pages of some lame interior design magazine and placed into the house without any regard for the comfort of the people who lived there.

The kitchen alone must have cost an absolute fortune, Sonya realised when she saw it. She could tell it was one of those custom, specially designed jobs that people with more money than sense went for. During the drive over, Lucy had mentioned that the house had been extended by her parents in the past. Judging by the length of the room, Sonya figured that the kitchen had to be one of the extensions.

Overall, while she could appreciate the money that had been spent on the home, Sonya didn't like it much. It just was not the kind of place she would want to live. She imagined she would constantly feel like she was cluttering the place up simply by being there. Of course, she was too polite to say so.

Everyone accepted Lucy's offer of a welcome drink - a stiff shot of malt whisky that was the best Sonya had ever tasted, not that she was an expert.

"Honestly, guys, I'm jet lagged to shit and need my bed," Val said after finishing her whisky.

"Same," Charlotte said, stifling a yawn.

"No complaints from me," Lucy said. "We can decide who's cooking breakfast in the morning, because it sure as shit ain't going to be me."

Everyone laughed as they got up from the small dining table in the kitchen and Lucy led the way to the stairs, saying she would show them all to their rooms.

"Are you coming to me or am I coming to you?" Charlotte whispered to Sonya. For obvious reasons, they weren't about to request to stay in the same room. But equally, they had no intention of sleeping separately

"I'll come to you," Sonya whispered back.

Within moments, Sonya was the first to be shown into a bedroom on the first floor. After wishing everyone a good night and closing the door, she heard Lucy's usual strong voice quite clearly down the hallway. "Char, you can have this one. Me and Val will be upstairs."

Perfect, Sonya thought. She changed into her nightwear, washed up in the en-suite that her room had and then sat on the bed to wait. She wanted to give it at least ten minutes before sneaking to Charlotte's room, enough time for Lucy and Val to settle down for the night.

When the time came, Sonya opened her door slowly and carefully. She wasn't sure if it would creak or not. Thankfully, it didn't.

Sonya's room was at the far end of the landing from the stairs. There was a bedroom between her room and the stairs, with a sliver of light coming out under the door. Charlotte was in there.

Treading lightly and walking slowly, Sonya crept towards the door. There was not a sound in the house. Just when she was about to gently knock on Charlotte's door, she noticed a tall, dark shadow standing at the top of the stairs that led up from the ground floor. Scared half to death, she screamed.

Charlotte's door flew open. "Honey, what is it?" she asked, rushing to Sonya.

As soon as the door had opened, the light from inside the room had shown Sonya that it hadn't been a ghost or an intruder she had seen. Lucy was standing there in her nightwear, holding a glass of water. And she had just caught them red handed. Sonya had been sneaking to Charlotte's room, and Charlotte had addressed her as honey. Now they were both standing there looking like rabbits caught in headlights.

"Fucking Norah," Lucy breathed, in the most English expression of surprise Sonya had ever heard.


	25. Chapter 25

"Uh, Lucy, this isn't what it looks like," Charlotte floundered in a bid to bluff her way out of the fact that Sonya had just been caught sneaking to her room, and the fact that she had just called Sonya honey in response to her panicked scream.

"I left something in Char's travel case," Sonya tried. Even she didn't think it sounded convincing.

Irritation flashed across Lucy's face. The lie clearly wasn't going to work, and she didn't appreciate it being attempted. "Guys, I'm socially awkward, not a fucking idiot. The two of you are standing there looking like I just caught you stealing the crown jewels, and you just called her honey, Char. If you want to ask me to keep this to myself, say that. Don't lie to me. I know exactly what's going on here."

"Everything okay?" Valentina called down from upstairs, apparently having heard Sonya's scream when she had seen what she had thought had been a ghost or an intruder, but had actually been Lucy coming back upstairs with a glass of water.

"Yeah. There was a spider in Sonya's room," Lucy called back, to the relief of Charlotte and Sonya.

"Jesus Christ, Son, you sounded like you were being attacked," Val called back. "They don't even have big spiders in England. Do you want me to come and get it for you?"

"I squashed it," Charlotte called.

"Cruel people," Val replied, then they heard her door close a moment later.

"So, uh, can we keep this between us?" Sonya asked Lucy now that the coast was clear.

"I don't think this is a conversation we should have standing on the landing," Lucy said. She turned and made her way back down the stairs, leaving Charlotte and Sonya to follow her.

The two lovers looked at each other before following. Sonya was mad at herself. They had taken a stupid risk and it had backfired on them big time. "Sorry," she mouthed to her girlfriend.

Charlotte grimaced and shrugged. There was nothing that could be done about the fact that Lucy had rumbled them. It was now about making sure she kept what she had learned to herself.

Walking into the living room behind Lucy, Sonya decided to speak first. "We really would appreciate it if you'd respect our privacy by not saying anything to anyone about us being together."

"We've not been dating long and it's my first relationship with a woman," Charlotte said as they took seats on the two couches. Much like everything else, they seemed to have been purchased based on the way they looked, not for comfort.

Sitting at a right angle to her two friends, Lucy didn't give much away with her expression. "Frankly, I'm insulted," she said after a moment.

Sonya and Charlotte glanced at each other, unsure what Lucy meant. Was she angry about being lied to upstairs? Or was it the fact that they had been about to sleep together in her family home?

"I'm insulted that you would think I'd go round shouting my mouth off," Lucy elaborated. "You guys are my friends. You're the first friends I've made in this company; the first people who have taken the time to get to know me and treated me decently. You're the ones who let me travel with you. Even if it was Hunter's idea, you made me feel welcome, not like I'm a burden on you. You've done everything you could since I debuted to put me over, and trust me, I appreciate it. I'm truly enjoying wrestling for the first time thanks to you two and Val. So am I going to go around blabbing your personal business to people? No, I'm not, because I value our friendship." She paused for a moment and shook her head. "I'm not good at big speeches like that."

"You did just fine," Sonya said, feeling genuinely touched by what she had just heard. What Lucy had said meant even more coming from someone who wasn't good at expressing themselves.

"We value your friendship too," Charlotte smiled. "And we appreciate you promising to keep our relationship secret."

"I'd offer a hug, but I'm guessing it's not your thing," Sonya grinned.

"You're okay where you are," Lucy said with a small smile of her own. "Christ, I wouldn't have guessed you were together, though. You've got the perfect little ruse going on with that angle you're working."

"It was the angle that started it," Charlotte admitted, as if that wasn't fairly obvious already.

"You might want to think about telling Val," Lucy said. "We're all on the road together so much of the time, how long is it going to be before she sees or hears something? Then it would open the whole can of worms about whether I already knew, and since I do, she'd want to know why I did and she didn't."

Sonya looked at Charlotte and said, "She has a point."

"Yeah, I guess," Charlotte said reluctantly. "Can we get this tour over first?"

"I don't see why not," Sonya said, and they both looked at Lucy.

"Don't look at me," she said. "This is your call to make. I've told you I'll keep the secret. In fact, I'll go you one better. I've got a secret of my own that I was debating telling you. I'll keep yours, so you can keep mine."

"Intrigue," Sonya said excitedly. "Okay, you've got a deal."

"Deal," Charlotte added.

Taking the promise at face value, Lucy came right out with it. "Before Smackdown last night, Seth Rollins asked me out to dinner."

"Oh my god," Sonya squealed. "Lucy, that's great. Seth's an amazing guy. What did you say to him?"

"I was so taken by surprise I didn't say much. I floundered a bit and said maybe next week."

Charlotte gave the kind of expression that conveyed that might not have been the best response to give.

"I know," Lucy sighed. "You know how fucking awkward I am. I was put right on the spot."

"What did Seth say?" Charlotte asked.

"He seemed to be kind of amused by my reaction. He honestly didn't look offended that I didn't say yes. He said, 'Next week then,' and walked off with a smile on his face."

"Awww, that's so sweet," Sonya gushed. "Are you going to say yes next week?"

"Yes, I think I am. But don't say anything or I'll kick your arses," Lucy said, only half joking.

"We made a deal," Charlotte said faithfully.

As was her usual manner, Lucy moved swiftly on once the conversation was complete. "Right then, I'm going to try going to bed again, if it's all the same with you."

"Suits us," Charlotte assured her.

"And do yourselves a favour," Lucy added. "Unless you want to risk Val seeing you come out of a bedroom together in the morning, have a night off. You can go back to fucking each other to your heart's content tomorrow night."

"Eloquently put as ever," Sonya said as she followed Lucy's example by getting up.

"That's me," Lucy chuckled.

They made their way upstairs, and Lucy said goodnight as she continued up to the second floor.

Sonya followed Charlotte down the landing to her door, and gave her a peck on the lips when she turned around. "Sorry, Queen," she whispered. "That mess was all on me. I should have waited longer to come out of my room."

"At least she was good about it," Charlotte whispered back. "We do need to tell Val, don't we?"

"Yeah. It's only fair, since Lucy knows. Besides, it saves us having to creep around behind their backs and having to act like we're just friends all the time."

"That is a good point," Charlotte realised. "I do hate the pretence."

"I'll miss you tonight, Queen," Sonya said, giving Charlotte another peck on the lips.

"I'll miss you too, honey. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

They kissed one more time then parted ways for the night.


	26. Chapter 26

Backstage prior to Backlash, Sonya, Lucy, Valentina and Ember Moon had been summoned to Hunter Helmsley's office. They had gone into the meeting expecting to learn the outcome of that night's fatal four way match for the Smackdown Women's Championship, but after greeting them all, Hunter began with a different subject.

"Val, Lucy, Vince and I have seen some footage from the live events you've been working the past couple of weeks, particularly those in England. We like the dynamic between you a lot, and we're going to make you a team. We want you to go on a serious run together, and it could tie in with plans we have for further down the road."

"Are you talking about Women's Tag Team Championships?" Lucy asked in her usual abrupt-sounding manner.

"Nothing is definite at this point, but it is something we're looking at as we continue to expand our women's rosters."

Valentina looked downcast about what she was hearing. "This is going to mean I'm dropping the title, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," Hunter said. "If it's any consolation, that was the plan anyway before we decided to make you and Lucy a team."

"I figured I was only going to be a transitional champion," Val said, disheartened by the news.

Sonya put a reassuring arm around the smaller woman. "Don't feel down, Val. You did a great job, and that moment you beat me will be a memorable one for years to come."

"Exactly," Hunter said. "And I have no doubt it's not going to be your only title reign."

"Plus you get to team with me," Lucy offered, looking awkward as she attempted to comfort her friend.

"At least there's that," Val said, doing her best to brighten up. She moved closer to Lucy and put an arm around her waist, giving her a hug. In return, Lucy put a comforting arm around Val's shoulders.

"You do look good together," Ember said with a smile. "I can definitely see a future for you guys as a team. Plus, people love that spot you do where Val gets thrown over the ropes like a bowling ball."

"You don't throw bowling balls," Sonya pointed out with a grin.

"No, but you know what I mean. The way Val hits people and knocks them down is like a bowling ball hitting pins."

"True," Val said. "We could get Renee to call a strike when I take people out."

Everyone smiled at that idea and Hunter said, "Yes, I like that. Speak to Renee about it before your next match together, will you?"

Valentina nodded.

"Okay then, onto the fatal four way," Hunter said.

"Who's getting the title?" Sonya asked. Since she already knew Val was going to drop it, she had to hope the recipient was going to be her.

There was a second of silence before Hunter gave his answer.

* * *

_WWE Backlash – May 19th 2019_

Right before her music hit, Sonya said a short prayer for her own safety and the safety of her opponents. It had been a routine for her ever since the night she had stood on the ring apron and watched Paige's career end with a neck injury. It had been a harrowing experience that she never wanted to go through again.

Ember had been the first to enter the arena. When her music faded out, it was replaced by Sonya's. As usual, boos greeted her.

"Sonya Deville, the woman who in my opinion should still be the Smackdown Women's Champion," Corey Graves said on commentary as Sonya entered the arena with a face like thunder.

"Are you still hung up on that?" Renee Young asked, sounding like she was shaking her head.

"Hung up on it?" Graves exclaimed. "Sonya was robbed out of her title by a combination of Lucy Thorne, Ember Moon and Valentina Ferreira, and she never even got a one on one rematch, thanks to Lita. The way Deville had been treated on this whole thing is an absolute disgrace, and it was no surprise to me when she lost it last week and put Naomi in hospital."

"It was certainly a new level of intensity and anger we saw from Deville this past week on Smackdown," Renee said. "Naomi was left beaten, bloody, and possibly with a broken arm thanks to Sonya's Kimura, and judging by the mood she was in when I saw her backstage earlier tonight, someone else could be heading the same way before too long."

Sonya finished her entrance routine with some shadow punches and an animalistic roar of aggression. She sent a few threatening words to the referee and the ring announcer before retreating to a corner of the ring to wait for her opponents.

Lucy's music was next to play. She received a warm ovation, lacking the extra edge of those she had recently gotten from the crowds in her own country.

"Lucy Thorne has been red hot since hitting the main roster running the night after Wrestlemania," Renee said as Lucy started making her way down the ramp, walking at her usual deliberate pace. "The alliance that recently seems to have been developing between Lucy and Valentina Ferreira means nothing tonight. In a fatal four way match, it's every woman for herself."

"That's right, and even I have to admit Lucy Thorne is going to take some stopping," Graves said. "There's no one else quite like her in WWE. She's powerful, resilient, and if she hits the Thorne in the Side, we could well be looking at a new Smackdown Women's Champion."

Lucy entered the ring in her usual unceremonial but imposing manner. She walked over and stood right in the middle of the ring, conveying that she didn't care in the least that Ember and Sonya were there.

As the champion, Valentina had the honour of entering last. Her music hit and she received a similar ovation to Lucy. Their budding relationship as a team had helped them both in terms of popularity.

"And here comes the champion, yet by most people's reckoning, also the underdog," Graves said.

"Valentina is the smallest woman in the match, and the least experienced," Renee said. "But don't count her out. Val has been written off her whole life, yet here she is as the Smackdown Women's Champion."

"Thanks to Lucy Thorne," Graves added, still insisting on labouring the point.

As Val neared the end of the aisle, Sonya came out of the ring under the bottom rope and went for her. They started frantically exchanging right hands.

Lucy had started walking towards the ropes to go and join in the fight, but Ember came up behind her and slammed a forearm into the back of her head.

With the battle underway, the referee decided to ring the bell and start the match officially.

* * *

Twenty minutes in the match, Sonya found a second wind. Catching Lucy climbing up onto the apron to get back in the ring, Sonya jumped into the air and brutally kicked her in the side of the head, knocking her back down to the floor.

Next came Ember, who came rushing at Sonya and hit her with a dropkick.

Sonya staggered into the corner of the ring, standing against the turnbuckles.

Ember acrobatically came across the ring, going for a handspring elbow, but Sonya dodged out of the way, leaving Ember to crash into the turnbuckles instead.

Dragging Ember out of the corner, Sonya set her up in a vertical suplex position and delivered The Deville's Lair. It might have been enough for a three count, but Sonya had noticed Valentina getting to her feet.

Grabbing hold of Val's arm, Sonya dropped to the mat, locking in the Kimura. She roared loudly, sensing that she was about to regain her championship.

Lucy had other ideas. Reaching under the bottom rope, she took hold of Sonya by both shoulders and dragged her out of the ring before ragdolling her into the ringside barricade with an impact that brought a shocked reaction from the fans.

Not finished yet, Lucy picked Sonya back up and whipped her into the ring steps with a thunderous crash. The top half of the steps went flying.

"Deville is in big trouble!" Graves cried. "She was about to break Valentina's arm, and I think that pissed Lucy off!"

Picking Sonya up once more, Lucy hurled her into the barricade again.

"This is a new level of viciousness from Lucy Thorne," Renee said as the fans started booing. The reason for their reaction soon became apparent when Charlotte was showing running down the aisle.

"Wait, Charlotte Flair is out here now!" Renee cried.

"The Women's European Champion, who tapped out Bayley earlier tonight with the Figure Eight," Graves said.

Charlotte rushed Lucy from behind, pushing her forward and into the barricade. Lucy spun around, and the fight was on.

"Flair and Thorne now, hammering away at each other!" Graves yelled.

Lucy connected with a bone-jarring right hand, sending Charlotte staggering backwards. Lucy went after her, continuing to land punches as Charlotte went back up the aisle.

Recovering from the assault she had suffered, Sonya got up and went after Lucy. Charlotte had come out to save her, now she was the one who needed to save Charlotte.

Between them, Flairville managed to start wearing down Lucy, who retreated towards the stage as she tried to fend off the kicks and punches that came at her thick and fast.

"There's still a match going on out here," Renee said when Lucy went through the curtain to the back, with Sonya and Charlotte close behind.

"Yes, and Ember Moon is climbing to the top rope!" Graves called.

The noise in the arena rose again, with the fans now looking back towards the action in the ring. Ember was poised on the top rope, while Valentina groggily got to her feet, holding the arm that had been injured by Sonya.

Ember leapt into the air, twirling as she flew, to deliver a picture perfect Eclipse. Valentina flew up into the air with the impact and came to rest flat on her back in the middle of the ring, out cold.

"The Eclipse! Moon into the cover!" Renee cried.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Ember Moon is the champion!" Graves yelled as the fans cheered enthusiastically. Many of them had held the belief that a championship victory for Ember was long overdue. Now she had her golden moment.

Greg Hamilton completed the formalities. "Here is your winner, and the new Smackdown Women's Champion, Ember Moon!"

"Valentina Ferreira never recovered from the Kimura, and Ember Moon got the Eclipse to capture her first Smackdown Women's Championship," Renee said as the finish was replayed for the viewers.

The shot returned to the ring, where Ember was clutching her title belt like the prized possession it was. The fans cheered and applauded as the referee raised her hand in victory.

Defeated, saddened, Valentina got to her feet, looking at the woman who had just taken her championship from her. Ember turned to face her and gave her the kind of smile that said, 'Sorry, but I had to do what I had to do.'

Taking the loss with good grace, Val raised Ember's hand respectfully before the two women shared a brief hug.

"A show of class from Valentina Ferreira," Renee said in admiration.

Graves said, "Tonight wasn't Valentina's night, but she's not had her last dance with the Smackdown Women's Championship, I'm sure of that."

"I totally agree," Renee said. "Tonight, though, the spotlight is on Ember Moon, our new Smackdown Women's Champion."


	27. Chapter 27

Lucy wasn't going to be traveling with the rest of the group the day after Backlash due to a meet and greet commitment. For that reason, Sonya had decided to approach Charlotte with the idea of telling Valentina about their relationship. Lucy's absence provided the perfect opportunity for a more private chat, and for the easiest way of getting around the fact that Lucy had already known for a few weeks.

Sitting across a table from Charlotte in their hotel's restaurant over breakfast, Sonya decided to broach the subject. "Honey, I was thinking today might be the day to tell Val about us."

Charlotte mulled that over for a moment as she finished chewing a mouthful of food. "Could be a good idea," she replied thoughtfully. "I mean, like Lucy said that night at her place, now that she knows, we have to tell Val."

"Exactly," Sonya said. "It's only fair. If we kept it from her and she eventually found out, then learned that Lucy had known for ages, she would have every right to be mad at us. For obvious reasons, I wanted to talk to you first, though. Coming out is harder for you than it is for me because I have more experience with it."

Sipping her coffee, Charlotte gave a hand gesture that meant she wasn't all that concerned about the prospect. "It's Val," she said. "I think of all the people I would be nervous about speaking to, she's at the bottom of the list. She doesn't have a judgemental bone in her body. Besides, I've already come out to my dad, to the rest of my family, to my friends and to Lucy. At this point, I'm not dreading it like I was before we went to see my dad."

Sonya was delighted to hear that news. There was no doubt that Charlotte was a courageous woman, more courageous than anyone Sonya had known before. Coming out was an incredibly tough thing to contemplate, let alone do, and yet Charlotte was ready to face it head on. It made Sonya so proud.

"I realise every day that I love you even more deeply than I thought possible," Sonya said quietly, not wanting to be overheard.

Charlotte's cheeks reddened a little. "What made you say that?"

"The fact that it's true," Sonya said, wishing she could lean over the table for a kiss. "You're such a brave person, an inspiration. And you're my love. I'm lucky beyond words to have you. To be this willing to confront something like this shows a strength of character that I could only wish I had. And that's not to mention everything that's happened in your life before we were together."

To Sonya's surprise, Charlotte teared up, hurriedly wiping the corners of her eyes to try and hide it as quickly as she could. "Sorry, it's just… that means so much to me," she managed to say, voice thick with emotion.

"I meant every word," Sonya promised.

"I know you did, and I love you too. That's another thing that makes coming out easier: I'm so proud to be with you."

Sonya took a deep breath, feeling her own heartstrings being pulled. "Don't, you'll start me off as well."

Taking a lengthy sip of coffee served as a way for Charlotte to give herself a moment to calm down. "So, we'll talk to Val once we're on the road?" she asked after setting her cup back on the table.

"Sounds like a plan," Sonya said. "Speak of the devil, here she comes," she added as Valentina walked into the restaurant for breakfast.

An hour later, the three friends were on the road. It was Val's turn to do the driving. "It doesn't feel the same without Lucy here, does it?" she asked as she made a left turn in heavy morning traffic.

"No. It must be her charming personality," Charlotte said with a laugh. Since they knew it was a joke, the others also laughed. The truth of it was they all felt close to Lucy as a friend now.

"I honestly do miss her though," Val said. "Since we've been teaming and traveling together, it feels like I'm getting to know the real Lucy. I'm fairly sure she would stand up for me in real life exactly the way she does in-character."

"Yes, I agree," Charlotte said. "She's tough to make friends with, but once you are friends, I think she's one of the most loyal people you could hope to have on your side."

"The same goes for you guys, too," Val went on. "Since I made the main roster, you couldn't have done more to help me. It's something I'll never forget, and I hope to be able to repay you some day."

"That's really sweet of you," Sonya said. "Uh, Val, there is something we've been wanting to tell you. Please don't take offense at this, but Lucy already knows. Only because she found out by accident, not because of any kind of decision on our part to tell her before you."

"Okay," Val said slowly, glancing across at Sonya, who was in the front passenger seat.

Wanting to test her own courage, Charlotte decided to be the one to come out with it. "The thing is, Sonya and I aren't simply dating each other on Smackdown. We're, uh, actually dating. We're in a relationship, and have been for a few months."

Turning in her seat, Sonya gave Charlotte a reassuring and happy smile.

Any nerves that the happy couple might have had about their friend's reaction were quickly dispelled when Valentina laughed. It was a kind, genuine laugh, not a mocking one. "I fucking knew it," she said, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Wait, what?" Sonya asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"What do you mean you knew it?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm a good reader of people. A smile here, and glint in your eyes there, I saw enough to give me suspicions. I mean, we do spend most of our lives together."

Sonya and Charlotte shared a surprised look. Charlotte found herself considering the prospect that others in the locker room might have suspicions. And, taking it a step further, if people were starting to have suspicions, it wouldn't be long before rumours started to spread. Once rumours spread, they would end up online, and everyone with an interest in wrestling would be gossiping about them.

"Do you think anyone else suspects?" Sonya asked with concern, clearly thinking along similar lines.

"I haven't heard anything," Val said cautiously. "But that's not the same as saying no. I think it's possible. I'm really pleased for you guys, by the way. Sorry, I should have opened with that."

"Thanks. And it's fine," Charlotte said.

"Char, I wonder if it's time we put thought into coming out to the rest of the locker room?" Sonya said, turned in her seat to look at her. "Obviously the last thing I want is to go any faster than you're comfortable with."

"No, I think you might be right, based on what Val's just said," Charlotte said pragmatically. She was surprised by how little the prospect bothered her. Every time she had come out to someone, she had been nervous about it. But without fail, everyone had responded positively, wishing her and Sonya nothing but happiness in their relationship.

'What if we got the whole thing out of the way in one fell swoop?' Charlotte thought, thinking of some kind of public revealing of the relationship. She wasn't sure where the idea had come from, but she kind of liked it, mentally comparing it to ripping off a band aid. There would be no more having to be wary of who was around, possibly listening into conversations. There would be no more having to resist the urge to hug or kiss Sonya in case it looked like they were doing it out of character. There would be no more ifs, whens or maybes to worry about regarding coming out. It could all be done in a moment.

"What are you thinking?" Sonya asked, seeing a faraway look on her girl's face.

"I'm thinking about whether it might not be for the best if we just said fuck it and came out to the world in one fell swoop. Like, rip the band aid off?"

"Wait, really?" Sonya asked, eyes wide again. "Are you serious right now?"

Valentina tried her best to hide the smile on her face as she willed her friends on.

"Yeah, really," Charlotte said. "I was thinking just then that everyone I've come out to has been so positive about it, I'm nowhere near as daunted by it anymore. Plus I'm sick of us having to act like just friends every time there are colleagues or friends around us. I'm not ashamed to be with you, Sonya. I'm proud of it. So, if you agree, I'm up for revealing our relationship to the world. Wow, I actually said that."

Sonya was very surprised, but in a good way. She too was sick of the sneaking around and playacting. It annoyed her that a heterosexual couple wouldn't have needed to act that way, but as lesbians they felt like they were somehow obliged to. Now, though, Charlotte was willing to put an end to all that. "Yes, I say let's do it," she said. "How, though?"

"Aren't you guys doing a chat show appearance soon?" Val asked. "You were talking about it the other day."

It was true. Flairville had been booked by WWE to appear on The Clementine Show, one of the most popular chat shows in America.

"Wait a minute, are you suggesting we do it on live TV?" Sonya asked Val.

Charlotte had to laugh. "Hey, you've got form for it, Son." She was referring to the moment Sonya had come out as a lesbian on Tough Enough a few years earlier.

Sonya looked at Charlotte in the back seat. "You're laughing about it. I expected you to say hell no."

"I'd be lying if I said the prospect doesn't make me feel nervous. But I find myself thinking that it would be a more meaningful way to break the news than with some lame post on Instagram or Twitter. I want the world to not only know we're together, I want them to see us together and to see how happy we are as a couple."

"That means so much to me," Sonya said, feeling like her heart was filled with love and pride.

"Clementine is gay, too," Valentina pointed out. "So if you do want to go for it on a TV show, I can't think of a better one for it than hers. You'll have an understanding and presumably delighted host."

"That's an excellent point," Sonya acknowledged. "I'm convinced if you are, Queen?"

"I love you, and I want to do it," Charlotte said definitively. She leaned forward and they kissed each other.

Val let out a little squeal of excitement. "I'm so happy for you guys. You're absolute couple goals. I wish I could be there in the audience to watch you on the show. You'd better believe I'll be watching it wherever I am at the time."

"Thanks, Val," Sonya said with a smile. Then she theatrically shook her head. "Revealing I'm in a relationship on live TV not once, but twice. How do I get myself into these situations?"


	28. Chapter 28

In a matter of moments, Sonya and Charlotte were going to be introduced for their appearance on The Clementine Show. After some deliberation, they had decided not to tell their host ahead of time that they were going to come out as couple on the show. They figured it would be best if Clementine was as surprised as everyone else. There was no danger of Clementine or the producers being mad at them for it, as the news would be a massive exclusive for the show. If anything, they ought to be delighted that their show had been the one chosen for the bombshell announcement.

"Still sure we're doing this?" Sonya asked Charlotte quietly. Out in the studio, they could hear the audience applauding the start of the show.

It would have been ridiculous for Charlotte to have felt no nerves at what lay ahead. The truth was that her stomach was churning. However, reminding herself of the band aid analogy she had come up with when first floating the idea, she was determined to go through with it. "Absolutely," she said with a smile.

Sonya smiled lovingly at her girl. She was thankful for the fact that in 2019 they were likely to receive widespread acceptance of their relationship and sexuality, although hers was already known to the public. There would of course be some idiots who chose to throw homophobic abuse around about them online. There was no avoiding that. The best way to react in her opinion was to ignore the negativity. The homophobic mindset was on the decline, and would continue in that direction.

In the studio, Clementine, a thirty year old African American woman who was famous for her friendly but effective way of getting her guests to open up about themselves, and also for presenting her show in baseball cap, was finishing welcoming viewers to the episode. Next would be the introduction for Sonya and Charlotte, who were appearing for the first half of the hour long show.

"Tonight, we begin with two very special guests," Clementine said. "Leading the rise to prominence of women's professional wrestling over the past few years, from WWE, please welcome Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville."

The live audience applauded enthusiastically as Sonya's entrance theme began to play. Thanks to the wonders of technology, the wall that formed the backdrop behind the chairs where Clementine sat with her guests transformed into a picture of Sonya and Charlotte taken from the Smackdown episode after Wrestlemania, showing the one time they had stood together at the top of the entrance ramp both wearing championship gold.

Walking out into the studio, both beautifully made up and wearing expensive dresses purchased especially for the occasion, Sonya and Charlotte smiled and waved to acknowledge the applause before continuing over to the host, who was standing ready to greet them. Charlotte had brought her Women's European Championship belt with her, and was carrying it over her shoulder.

Clementine exchanged a peck on the cheek and a few words of welcome with each of her guests, before motioning them towards the chairs that were waiting for them. As Clementine sat down opposite them, sitting in a relaxed manner as was her usual style, the applause and Sonya's music faded.

"Charlotte, Sonya, welcome," Clementine said warmly. "It's great to have you on the show."

"Thanks, Clem. It's great to be here," Sonya said on behalf of them both.

Clementine half turned to look into the main camera and towards her audience. "We have two of the very best female wrestlers in the world right here. Both are former WWE Women's Champions, and Charlotte is the current Women's European Champion." She turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte, you have your title belt there. I had a close look at it backstage earlier, and it's beautiful, I must say."

A cameraman got a zoomed in shot of the title belt.

"It must be a mission having to take something like that everywhere you travel?" Clementine asked. Her first question of the interview was deliberately intended to draw the ripple of laughter that came from the audience, and to put the guests at ease.

"It does get interesting at times," Charlotte said with a broad smile. "Putting it in your luggage would be a big risk in case the airline loses it, so often you have to carry it on. And that means going through security, where nine point nine times out of ten you'll get pulled aside and asked to explain what it is. Once people find out, they often want to stop and take pictures with the belt and stuff like that, which is fun don't get me wrong, but it can be awkward when you're in a rush."

Clementine smiled and there were a few quiet laughs from the audience. The host turned to Sonya. "Sonya, you were recently the Smackdown Women's Champion. What did it mean to you to be a champion at a point where women's wrestling is more popular than ever before?"

"It was a huge honour," Sonya replied. "There have been some amazing, ground-breaking female wrestlers in the past, but right now? The women in WWE are by far the strongest group in terms of talent that has ever been established. With that being said, winning the Smackdown Women's Championship is an achievement I'll be able to look back on and be proud of for the rest of my life."

"Earlier this year, you defended the championship at Wrestlemania, the biggest WWE event of the year," Clementine said. "This year, Wrestlemania happened to be at MetLife Stadium in your home state of New Jersey. That must have been an emotional night for you?"

"It sure was," Sonya said reflectively. "Performing at Wrestlemania, especially as a champion, is a huge milestone in any wrestler's career. To do it at MetLife, so close to home, was extra special for me. There's nothing like walking into arena that size when you're one of the performers. It's literally a sea of people as far as the eye can see, and they're all cheering, or in my case booing, because I'm a bad guy."

"You look like a bad guy," Clementine commented. The audience burst out laughing, as did Sonya and Charlotte.

"Thanks, Clem," Sonya said through her laughter. "That means a lot."

Once the laughter died down, Clementine moved on to her next question. "In recent months, the two of you have been playing a couple on-screen. Sonya, you're the first openly lesbian wrestler in WWE, which I personally think is brilliant, but Charlotte, this must have been a unique experience for you? What has it been like pretending to date a woman in Sonya?"

Charlotte and Sonya looked at each other. That was the setup question they had been waiting for. "Well, here's the thing," Charlotte said slowly, summoning her courage. "We started off acting out those roles, but that didn't last all that long. We've only told a few people this so far, Clem. We've been dating for real for the past few months."

"Oh my!" Clem exclaimed in delight, joining the audience in breaking into spontaneous applause.

Sonya looked at Charlotte, feeling like the happiest woman in the world. The smile on Charlotte's face showed that she was feeling much the same way. Sonya had never felt more in love than she did in that moment.

"Just to be clear," Clementine said over the applause, "I had no idea they were going to announce that tonight. Guys, I really am so happy for you. You make a lovely couple."

"Flairville!" a woman shouted out from the audience.

"What?" Clem asked, looking in the direction the voice had come from.

"She said Flairville," Sonya said, still smiling. "That's the hashtag we use in WWE. I guess it's now our ship name, for people who are into that kind of thing."

"Flairville it is," Clementine smiled. "Guys, let's hear it again for Flairville!"

Another round of applause went up.

"That was really brave of you," Clementine said to Charlotte while her voice was somewhat masked by the applause.

When the applause came to an end, Clementine spoke to Charlotte again. "Charlotte, am I correct in saying this is your first relationship with a woman?"

Charlotte nodded. "You are. So I guess I just came out live on your show."

Applause started again as people reacted to the courageous act. Clementine stood up, offering a hug to Charlotte. Charlotte got up and accepted the gesture from the smaller woman, being careful not to knock her baseball cap off in the process. As she went in for the hug, she saw tears in Clem's eyes.

"That is one of the best moments I've ever had on my show," Clementine said quietly so that only Charlotte could hear. As they parted, she wiped her eyes.

"Thank you," Charlotte said.

Spontaneously, Sonya decided to get up and go to Charlotte. As Charlotte turned around, she walked into Sonya's arms and they kissed each other, applause still filling the studio.

"I love you, Queen," Sonya said into her ear.

"I love you too, honey. I'm proud and lucky to be with you. You're my whole world."

They kissed again and Sonya said, "Flairville for life."

END


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